Charmed Equals
by Giaans
Summary: Chris and Wyatt are faced with a new mission, one they DEFINITELY weren't expecting. But there's a greater danger. A demon is trying to destroy the whole of the Charmed Ones, the original, and the second generation... Most characters aren't mine...
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

Christopher Wyatt Halliwell was having a horrible day. Screw that, he was having a horrible week, which was a tremendous surprise given that he'd been chasing demons, killing dark-lighters and saving Innocents for the past twenty-five years of his life. After all, he helped save his brother Wyatt from the most dangerous of all evils when he was barely one year old. That counts for something, doesn't it?

Right now, nothing was counting. The past week had been riddled with far too many notorious monsters to count and they all seemed to be attacking them at the same time—

"Chris, watch out!"

He orbed out in a shower of sparkling blue and white lights, waiting for the fireball to strike the wall before reappearing in the middle of his living room. Ducking to avoid another fireball—fromyet _another_ demon—he rolled behind the couch to where his brother was taking cover. They winced as they heard something shattering, knowing that it was probably another antique flower-vase or something that unfortunately had gotten caught in the cross-fire and had shattered into a thousand, irreparable pieces. Wyatt looked up at him.

"We'll take them one at a time—" he whispered.

"No, there are too many. We'll have to find a new hiding place after we vanquish each one and soon, we'll destroy the whole frickin' house!"

"Chris," Wyatt began warningly, knowing that his brother's bad moods plus the reoccurring demon-attacks would not result in any good. Sure enough, before he could utter another word, Chris had stood up, clear in the sight of the demons.

"Hey, pizza-face!" He called out to the one closest to the couch—a quite disgusting creature with red and black pock marks riddling its face. Soon as he uttered the words, he sent an energy ball shooting across the room and straight into the demon's chest, causing it to burst into flames. Wyatt groaned, wondering why the hell he had to get stuck with his brother' stupidity and why the hell he had to end up cleaning up after his brother's stupidity. He orbed quickly and landed two feet behind another demon—this one painted pure black all over except for the silver rings that seemed to fill any and all possible piercing spots on his body. He grabbed him from behind and cleanly twisted his neck, breaking each and every bone just as Chris blew up another one which had been about to throw a fireball at them.

"Wyatt, duck-duck-goose!"

He fell to the floor immediately just as an energy ball whirled past his head and hit a demon behind him. The creature roared in pain as its body burst into flames. Wyatt saw a pair of clawed feet running across the room, straight at the couch and sent a fireball at them, landing the fifth demon and vanquishing it.

Once all of the commotion died down, Wyatt straightened, still crouching on the floor with one arm over a bent knee. "Quack quack?"

Chris shrugged. "I found that the term 'duck-duck-goose' seems to confuse the demons, makes them hesitate."

"Oh, Mom's going to be so happy her _nursery_ rhyme is being put to use!" Wyatt scoffed, rising to his feet.

"It's not a nursery rhyme," Chris replied, slightly irritated. "It's a children's game—"

"And that's _so_ much better, right?"

Chris turned on him, hand open at his side, ready to fling an energy ball at him but he was suddenly interrupted by a warm voice floating down the stairs off to their side.

"All that noise could only mean one thing!"

Piper Halliwell definitely knew when to interrupt something, especially after a good demon attack. Having had three sisters before—two of them younger than her—two sons, five nieces and one nephew, she was far better at handling emotions and _issues_ better than anybody else, even her husband, Leo Wyatt, who was practically a born pacifist and her sister, Phoebe Halliwell, who was an advice columnist. Yes, she definitely prided herself over raising eight children without losing any of them to magical tantrums and God knew there was nothing worse than an angry child with powers.

"Mom!" Wyatt grinned, walking forward to hug his mother who was a good foot shorter than him.

"Were you boys having fun kicking some demon-ass?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it 'fun' if it's the tenth time I had to do it in a weak!" Chris replied, giving Piper a hug.

"Mmm… been there, done that," Piper nodded with a soft sigh that was both sad and disgusted at the same time. "To put it mildly, let's say your aunts and I had to deal with the Lazarus demon… times ten all in one day!"

Chris scowled. He would take the Lazarus demon any time now, especially since it only resurrected with more power every time it was killed until it was buried in a cemetery. Even Lazarus demon times ten was fine with him but this was like Lazarus demon to the infinity right now.

"Did Dad find out what's going on with these crazy demon attacks?" Wyatt asked her as she walked around the room, inspecting the damage that the battle had done to its furnishing with a wrinkled nose.

"No, but he _better_ have found some sort of furniture-repairing spell because I am at my wit's end here!" Piper muttered, looking at the shattered glass. "I don't get it—your grandma was a witch, her mother was a witch and her mother and her mother all the way back to Melinda Warren from the seventeenth century! You'd think they'd have come up with some spell to fix broken glass and burnt wood after getting attacked by demons so many times. It's not like demons were any more congenial or considerate back then—" she stopped and looked up thoughtfully. "Were they?"

"Mom," Chris sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Right, right," Piper replied, snapping back to attention. "Demon attacks… crazy… by the hundreds."

"Try thousands," Wyatt replied.

"Or, better yet, try infinity!" Chris amended.

"Now _that_, young man, is an exaggeration," Piper said with a stern finger in her younger son's direction. "Besides, I'm sure there's _some_ sort of explanation for it. Why don't you go ask your dad?"

"He banned Chris and me from the school," Wyatt told her with a sigh towards Chris. "After Chris barged into his Creatures of the Magical Community class on Monday and refused to leave until he got answers…"

"Hey, that was the frickin' banshee-slash-wendigo attack day, I was _this_ close to applying to a mental institution!" Chris replied indignantly.

"Banshees don't attack male witches," Piper frowned.

"No, but Bendishees do! This thing was seven feet tall and _delightfully_ ugly and it brought sisters too! Or is it brothers? Or both? Are Wendigos all male?"

"Chris!" Wyatt snapped, rubbing his forehead.

"Why don't you go ask Cathryn, she was probably talking to Leo at school this morning, he might have told her something," Piper told them, carefully picking up the shattered glass from the vase and placing it all back on the mahogany stand it had once stood on.

"Can't, she's in the Underworld."

Piper looked at Wyatt with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well, I can't sense her. I can only assume that she and that _boyfriend_ of hers are taking a hike through Satan's Pit for their _honeymoon_!" Wyatt said sarcastically. "That boy _bothers_ me, are you sure we should be allowing Cathryn to see him?"

"He's a nice enough boy, Wyatt," Piper reasoned carefully. "Just a little… adventurous. Besides, your cousin is old enough to make decisions for herself—"

"She's sixteen, Mom, hardly 'old enough'. Besides, when _I_ skipped school to be with my girlfriend, I don't remember you being so considerate towards me." Wyatt replied.

"Cathryn doesn't have classes right now, she's only taking them in the evenings. And when _you_ were sixteen, you were running around with a Siren, not a future white-lighter, remember?"

"Oh-ho!" Chris laughed. "Swish swish! What was her name, Wyatt, _Selena_? The chick with the huge—"

"Chris…" Piper said in a warning voice.

Chris immediately shut his mouth. "Sorry."

"My point is, we all learn through our mistakes, especially in the magical world, and Cathryn needs to learn through hers," Piper explained, piling the last of the glass on the stand and patting her hands clean. She then placed them on her hips and turned to her sons. "You learned through yours—give her a chance to do the same."

"I just don't trust him," Wyatt muttered grudgingly.

Piper smiled. Annoying as it was sometimes to see all the kids fighting with each other about who went out with whom and who tried to find and kill whom, she knew it was all because they loved each other and that was far more comforting to know than not. She could overlook the fights… sometimes.

"Okay, back to the point. Mom, can you call Dad?" Chris asked.

"Why don't you call him yourself?" Piper replied, turning away to go into the kitchen.

"Because he won't answer, and you know it," Chris said following her.

"And I wonder whose fault _that _is," Wyatt muttered behind him before receiving a nasty glare from his brother.

"Just call him, please?"

Piper sighed and turned her face up to the ceiling slightly. "Leo?" When there was no reply for a long time, she called again. "Leo… Chris needs you."

It just so happened that her husband was about to respond to her second call and halfway shimmered into the kitchen when he heard the rest of the second sentence and decided to go right back to his class at the Magical School. His wife did not like that very much.

"Leo! Get your butt down here!"

"What is it?" Leo sighed, finally appearing in front of his family. He turned to Chris and stared at him expectantly.

"Dad, what are you wearing?" Wyatt asked him, staring at the bright tropical shorts and white tee-shirt his father was wearing. To top it off, he had a straw hat set jauntily upon his muddy blonde hair finishing the perfect picture of… an embarrassing father.

"It's professor-party day," Leo replied, waving off the matter. "Why did you call me?"

"Honey, next time it's a 'professor-party day', try not to party so much, okay?" Piper interrupted, staring at the abominable shorts. "It turns out to be more of an eyesore."

Leo turned to his wife with a sly smile. "You want to see an eyesore?"

Piper giggled very childishly, swiveling on one foot like a love-struck girl. "Why not?"

"Okay, too much romance!" Chris interrupted them as Wyatt snickered behind him. "Something your kids do _not_ need to see!"

Leo turned back to him, frowning. "What? Professor Tilwinkle is wearing a grass skirt and a coconut bra—that's what I meant."

"Oh…" Piper scowled, clearly disappointed.

"Mom!"

"Sorry, sorry… demons attacking, I keep forgetting. Alzheimer's a la Piper." Piper turned around and set the coffee-pot, realizing that several people in the room needed it right now, not just her.

"I can fix that for you," Leo told her, looking slightly concerned.

"Dad, she's not serious," Wyatt stated.

"Hello! Demon problem," Chris cried out, throwing up his arms in frustration.

"Oh, yes, I've been meaning to talk to you about that," Leo told him, walking around the kitchen counter to take a seat at the dining table. Chris and Wyatt followed.

"You've got news?"

"Hopefully on how the hell to stop them?"

"Actually… not really," Leo replied, wincing. "It's more…"

His sons and wife waited for him to continue but he just sighed and started over. "It's more of a mission for you guys, to tell the truth. It turns out that the Head Elders are… _making_ them attack you."

"_Making_ them? What is this, a frickin' test?" Chris said, enraged.

"Chris, relax!" Piper said to him patiently. "Honey, _are_ they testing them? Didn't they already do that seven _years_ ago?"

"It's not a test," Leo replied. "You see, there's this person who's the child of a dark-lighter and a demon—"

"Whoa! How did that happen?" Wyatt interrupted.

"Tell me about it," Leo nodded. "Ever since Piper and I got married, cross-magical marriages have been popping up _everywhere_."

"Trend-setters, are we?" Piper grinned.

"But this is the worst possible combination of them all," Leo explained. "When _we_ got married, it was just a matter of conflicting duties. The Elders weren't sure we'd be able to do our jobs properly and manage a personal, married life. But this—a dark-lighter and a demon—is basically _the_ evil combination possible. It's not a matter of duty; it's a matter of danger. A person with that kind of powers—dark-lighter and demon—is the exact opposite of what Chris and Wyatt are, what Paige is and somewhat of what her children are. A person with that lineage has the power to destroy both the witches and white-lighters—power beyond anything you can imagine! Not to mention that this one's also been raised by a Seer—you do the math!"

"Funny, I never really liked math," Wyatt sighed.

"So what's this got to do with us?" Chris asked.

"Other than that this demon-lighter can kick your butts—_both_ of yours, quite easily once its powers are acquired? Well, the thing here is that it—sorry, _she_—hasn't exactly chosen her side yet."

"She?" Chris scoffed. "It's a girl."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Piper turned on her son.

"Nothing! I just meant that Dad made her sound like the reincarnation of Hell, so I was just expecting an ugly creature of some sort."

"She could still be ugly," Wyatt shrugged.

"This is not a matter to joke about, you guys," Leo sighed. "She needs protection. If her father, the Nemritzar Demon gets to her, there is no knowing what her powers can accelerate to. The Seer who has been raising her has seen the future and it is _not_ good. That is why she is sending the girl to us to protect."

"How do we know it's not a trap?" Wyatt wondered.

"Because the Seer is putting herself in perilous danger by handing her over to us. The Nemritzar Demon is almost _sure_ to kill her the moment he finds out but she says she cannot let such great evil take over. She fears it would be too great of a shift in the Balance."

"Honey, remember the last time we aided a Seer because she apparently didn't want the 'Balance to shift'," Piper reminded him reproachfully. "Remember how that turned out?"

"But this is different. The Elders have also sensed the danger and they've agreed that we must protect her."

"And the demons think she's here already?"

"Well, somehow the information leaked out that the children of the Charmed Ones are protecting her and the demons have been attacking ever since… obviously. The Elders are not bothering to clear it up because they know you can take them."

"Oh, so now we have to suffer for all the demons we've killed for them in the past?" Chris scoffed.

"Well, we _can_ take them," Wyatt shrugged.

"Whose side are you on?"

"Chris, I know the demons have been a hindrance to you both—they have been for all of us. But we really need to do this for the Good of the world."

"Yeah, yeah… when do we start?" Chris groaned, knowing there was nothing he could do the moment his father started talking about the 'Good of the world'.

Leo grinned. "Right now, actually. I was supposed to talk to you this evening but I suppose you can begin right now. They are keeping her at the Magical School where there's enough magic to protect her for now."

"Great, shall we go?" Wyatt asked cheerfully.

"I guess," Chris replied.

"Wait—you—" But they had already orbed out. Leo sighed and lifted himself off his chair and turned to his wife with a warm smile.

"Coffee?" Piper asked sweetly offering him a cup.

"Yeah, thanks," he said, taking it from her with another heavy sigh.

"All right, spill. What didn't you tell them?"

Leo looked at her for a while and rolled his eyes. There was no way he could hide anything from her. "Female dark-lighters have the same power as male dark-lighters… they can seduce the opposite gender. That's how they get their victims, obviously."

"Wow… and you think…?"

"Yes," Leo replied, nodding. "I tried to tell the Elders but they didn't think anyone else was powerful enough to suppress her in her early stages if she did decide to turn. Who better to protect and perhaps go against a dark-lighter-demon than white-lighter-witches?"

"That's why the others haven't been assigned this mission," Piper reflected.

"Yes, or else any of the other kids could have protected her too."

"Well, what about Paige? She's half white-lighter and half witch, right? Wouldn't the girl be safer with Paige than with Chris and Wyatt?"

"Paige's powers are very great, but she's not as powerful as Chris and Wyatt put together. They're young and they've still got all their magic left for them to use. Besides, uh… Paige is missing."

Piper blinked. "What?"

Leo nodded. "She went missing a weak ago…"

"Around the same time the Seer came to you guys?"

"Uh-huh!"

Piper watched him through narrow eyes. "Are they stupid enough to think this is a coincidence and when the hell were you going to tell me?"

"I barely had any time—I was in the Underworld almost all of this past week trying to sense her but I can't. And, yes, they _do_ think it's a coincidence."

"What? Do they have poop for brains?"

"Shh… we _can_ hear you when we wish to, you know?"

"I don't care!" Piper replied. "The moment you folk start acting stupid, I'll _tell_ you you're acting stupid—Leo! This is ridiculous! We need to find her."

"Piper, relax. She's a powerful witch, she can take care of herself and some of us are trying to find her. Bailun doesn't think it's coincidence either and he and Helga have been helping me search for her."

"Oh, no no! When something like this happens, you come to the Charmed Ones, Goddammit! I can't believe you've been hiding this from me and before you start giving me that 'I had no time' crap… don't!" Piper walked into the living room purposefully ignoring Leo's objections. She picked up her purse from the coat-hook and rummaged through it for her cell-phone.

"Piper, honey, what are you doing?"

"I'm calling Phoebe."

Leo gently took her cell phone from her and put it back in her purse. "Piper, we are looking for her. There's no need to bother Phoebe right now. Besides… she kind of… already knows."

Piper froze and turned to glare at her husband. "You _told_ her? You told her and not _me_?"

"I didn't want to worry you," Leo sighed. "And she thought I shouldn't also. We have everything under control, believe me. We've got an alert out for her among our spies in the Underworld and Harry is out searching for her even as we speak."

"Harry's twenty years old! You're trusting the life of my sister to a young boy?"

"Harry is Paige's son, Piper. Besides, you know he's very powerful himself."

Piper looked away and sighed. "Yes, I know. I just… wish you had told me before." She looked up. "I'm just worried, you know. Do Chris and Wyatt even know about this dark-lighter power?"

"Apparently, she hasn't exactly… _mastered _them yet, she says. She promised she wouldn't use them and I know that you are worried, and believe me, Harry is powerful and so are Chris and Wyatt—"

"They're all kids! What if Harry gets in trouble, or Chris or Wyatt—"

"And if all else rings false for your ears," Leo talked over her, slowly pulling her into his arms, "remember that Paige is one of the _Charmed Ones_. She can definitely take care of herself. She's been demon-fighting far longer than any of us have so far."

Piper sighed, placing her cheek against his shoulder. "You better be right."

(0)

"I'm always right," Paige told the demon with a confident smile, crossing her arms before her. She watched him walk slowly toward the cage he had trapped her in. "As you seem to have forgotten, I'm a Charmed One."

"Yeah, yeah, the legendary Charmed Ones," the demon sneered, his scarred face twisting unpleasantly. "I heard ya'll gave up on yer po'rs and went back ta' yer sissy little human lives."

"Boy, you in for a _big_ surprise," Paige chuckled. She opened her palm, creating an energy ball and sent it out of the cage towards him. Unfortunately, a sparkle of magic later, the energy ball began bouncing around in the cage, reflected off the walls until she finally caught it again in her hand with a slight squeal and extinguished it.

The demon was laughing. "Stupid witch! Can't remember the cage ye got trapped in all those years back?"

Paige's eyes widened in shock. Now that she looked at it, she did recognize it—it was the Seer's cage that her sisters and she had gotten trapped in over thirty years ago so they could be offered as sacrifices to make the Seer the Source of all evil. Immediately, she thought of that spell she had used…

"Uh-uh-uh!" The demon chuckled. "I knew ye'd think about that magic-calling spell. See, this cage is special—yes, it was made by that stupid Seer who died way back when, but I added some… _modifications_ to it so that no magic can come out of it… and no magic can get in. Other than the active powers ye have, ye can't even _use_ any magic in there and believe me, if ye start usin' yer active powers in there…" the demon leaned in, his twisted dread locks falling over his greasy face, "that'd be your own funeral!"

Paige growled at him.

"Yes, yes… all ye can do is just… sit there, just sit there, _Paige_. Enjoy the show!" The demon turned away, laughing and stretching his arms out as though he was the most powerful creature in the world. If he had that much power, he'd get himself some better clothes than the torn rags he was wearing now, Paige thought bitterly.

She looked up at the cave-like ceiling of the Underworld. "Piper… Phoebe… where are you?"

(0)

"Right here, my love!"

"Coop!" Phoebe groaned. She picked up her empty coffee mug and threw it at her husband who caught it quickly. "Where have you been?"

"Uh… doing my job?" Coop questioned, unsure if he was actually supposed to answer the question. "What's wrong?"

Phoebe motioned at the river of mail flowing over her desk. "This! This is what's wrong! That idiot assistant of mine has no clue how to deal with fan mail and he decided to send _everything_ through!"

"Well, throw it away," Coop replied with a soft shrug as he walked around the desk and placed the coffee mug on top of the pile of mail like an odd little monument on the moon or something. "What happened to Elissa, by the way, your old assistant?"

"Uh, you went and found her a _boyfriend_, that's what happened!" Phoebe replied hotly. "I swear, you're getting rid of every single one of my assistants one by one and it's getting harder and harder to find a decent one. I _hate_ being married to a Cupid."

"No, you don't… you love it," Coop replied, leaning down.

Phoebe pouted at him, then smiled. "I _do_ hate you," she sighed, then kissed him. Truth was, she loved it more than anything, and not just the small things like the amazingly blissful kisses that never seemed to get old or how she remains to look about thirty-five when her sisters were getting the hints of white hair all through their head, but also the fact that she could not be happier with anyone else than the man she found.

"Hmm…" Coop sighed, stroking her cheek. "How you remain to be so vexing after all these years is beyond me."

"I was about to say the same thing to you. Aren't Cupids supposed to be all sweet and sugar with less than a hint of mischief?"

"You're asking me that now, after twenty-one years of marriage?"

"Wow, it's been twenty-one already?" Phoebe frowned.

"Yes… in fact…" Coop waved his hand through the air, creating a ripple of red stars that turned into a box of chocolates before her eyes. "Happy anniversary."

"It's not for a whole week, baby," Phoebe grinned.

"I know, but this is our engagement anniversary, right?"

"Hmm…" Phoebe shrugged. She picked the box of chocolates from mid-air and opened it. There was nothing more soothing or sexy than chocolate on the planet. Whoever said that diamonds were a girl's best friend was completely wrong. Chocolate far outshined diamonds. Cupids were even better.

"Unfortunately," Coop sighed, backing away slightly, "I can't linger."

"What?"

"I've got a big mission… very important."

"Oh, who is it?" Phoebe asked, placing the chocolates down and turning back to her computer to continue her work on the last chapter of the novel she had been writing… the last chapter which she had been working on for seven months now.

"I… can't tell you."

Phoebe looked up at him suspiciously. "You can't tell me? When have you not been able to tell me who your misguided hearts are?"

Coop shrugged uncomfortably, a sheepish smile on his face as he slowly kept backing away from her, already planning his escape. "I'm gonna have to start sometime, right? Okay, I'll see you at dinner, sweetie, bye!"

"Coop!"

"Please don't call me back," Coop cried out as he disappeared in a flash of white light that receded into a hovering red heart, then faded off completely. Phoebe stared after the heart, vexed beyond imagination.

"Now we have secrets?" Phoebe yelled out, knowing he wouldn't hear her, but having the satisfaction of yelling at her husband anyway.

"Did you call, Ms. Halliwell?"

Phoebe turned to the shock of read hair poking into her room. The young man whom it belonged to stared at her with eyes magnified beyond proportions by his thick glasses.

"David," Phoebe grinned. "Could you do me a small favor and just… throw all this mail away?"

David looked at the mail on her desk. "But they're all fan mails, Mrs. H."

"Yes, I know, but—" Phoebe froze, then sighed, knowing that it would be much easier to just do it by herself. "Never mind, David."

David nodded with a huge smile, then disappeared from her door. Phoebe stared after him, then looked at the spot where her husband had been standing seconds ago, scowling. "I need a new job. Better yet, I need a new life!"


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One**_

Chris and Wyatt stood outside the large oak doors to the Circulatory Office of the Magical School, each with one hand on each of the two doorknobs, hesitating… fearing. They looked at each other, then looked away for the fifteenth time since they had orbed here five minutes ago.

"What are you afraid of?" Wyatt asked Chris.

"Nothing," Chris replied somewhat dishonestly. After a moment of silence, he returned the question, "You?"

"Oh, you know. The usual."

"Think she's in there?" Chris asked hesitantly.

"No doubt about it," Wyatt was quick to reply.

Chris nodded for a while, tapping his doorknob with two fingers. "Wanna come back later… you know, when she's not here."

"Mrs. Tilwinkle is _always_ here! She _lives_ here to take care of the sick or injured."

Chris nodded again, wishing more than anything to just turn around and orb right back home. He was sure he saw his mom baking cookies yesterday… perhaps he could have some like the good old times, just sit down with a glass of cold milk and his mom's homemade cookies…

"So, should we go in there?"

"No," Chris replied.

"We kind of have to."

"Yes," Chris nodded, then groaned in frusteration. "On the count of three. One—"

"—Two—"

"Three!" The both opened the doors at the same time and found themselves facing a large, miraculously empty room. Nobody at the gigantic desk, nobody at the gleaming windows, just simply nobody…

"She's… not here?" Wyatt dared to utter the words, hope streaming through, unchecked in his voice.

"Shh… don't jinx it—"

"Oh, can it be? Oh, my goodness, it's the Halliwell boys!"

Chris turned to glare at his brother, sure that the only reason that the chirpy, almost eccentric voice was ringing through the room was because Wyatt dared to think it wouldn't… the classic moron-jinx!

Wyatt shrugged apologetically and they both turned to face the second set of doors in the room that led to the care-facility rooms. Mrs. Tilwinkle, a short, portly woman with a shock of white hair and large, diamond-studded glasses walked into the room, her usual, full-toothed beam in place. "Oh, you've grown so much since the last time I saw you!"

"You saw us four days ago, Mrs. T," Wyatt replied, frowning. "Remember, when Chris broke into Dad's class?"

Mrs. Tilwinkle looked at them with a distant look on her face, her beam frozen in thought. "Oh, yes, I suppose so…" She said reflectively. Immediately, she was back to her usual, chirpy self. "But you're still so handsome! Just look at you!" She took a hold of each of their cheeks and scrunched up her face as though she were talking to little babies. "Just such handsome-wandsome boys, aren't we?"

Chris grimaced as her long, fake nails dug into his skin. "Ow…"

"So," Mrs. Tilwinkle finally sighed, letting go of their cheeks. Wyatt and Chris both rubbed their respective cheeks which were already turning red. "What can I do for you boys today? You haven't broken into another class-room, have you, Chris? I know that you think it's cool, and that you got lots of encouragement from the excited children last time, but you need to find another way of being cool, son—"

"I didn't think it was _cool_!" Chris scoffed.

"We all need attention and some of us get our in different ways—"

"_Actually_," Wyatt jumped in, sure that if he had waited a second longer, Chris probably would have put his fist straight in the lady's mouth, "we came looking for the girl, the dark-lighter-demon lady—"

"Oh, you mean Daphne?" Mrs. Tilwinkle chirped, clapping her hands together. "That sweet little child the Elders wanted me to look after till this evening?"

"Yes, we've come to pick her up a little early," Wyatt replied, nodding. "So, if you could tell us where she is?"

"Oh, I don't know," Mrs. Tilwinkle replied, without the slightest hint of guilt. "I lost her."

People see and hear several surprising, even shocking, things in their lives but there are always those certain friends or family members that always manage to surprise them… again… and again. And not in a good way either. That's why it took Wyatt and Chris nearly a twenty seconds to get over Mrs. Tilwinkle's outrageous admission. And the woman's smile didn't even falter a little as she continued to look from one man's face to the other, in that ever-so-excited, slightly expecting look of hers that she was a master of.

"You lost her—wait—you_ lost_ her?" Chris cried out. "How can you _lose_ somebody?"

"Well, I was having lunch," Mrs. Tilwinkle explained patiently. "I was sitting at that desk right over there, actually, and Carl had made me a special sandwich for today—it's our thirty-seventh anniversary, you know—and it just so happened that she… shimmered out." Mrs. Tilwinkle ended the speech with a small, awkward nod, then a shrug.

Chris found himself wanting to laugh with the sheer obsurdity of it. The Seer brings a satan-child to the Elders, hoping—praying, probably—that they'll keep her safe and away from danger, and yes, they_ were_ smart enough to appoint the kids of the Charmed Ones for her protection, but then they leave her with an absent-minded _moron_ in the meanwhile so that she could go and lose her? Were they crazy or just immensely _stupid_? Then again, he was far more irritated—angry, even—to laugh at the moment. What the _hell_ was wrong with them? He turned away, rubbing his fore-head because there was one hell of a headache pounding at his brain right now and Mrs. Tilwinkle's idiocy wasn't helping much.

Wyatt, always the patient one, took a deep breath and said, "Okay, let's see. You _lost_ our Innocent?"

"Uh-huh," Mrs. Tilwinkle grinned.

"Um… _when_ did you lose her?"

"Oh, about an hour ago," she replied.

"Oh, that's a little longer than I thought… or rather hoped," Wyatt muttered to himself, then turned back to Mrs. Tilwinkle. "And _where_ did you lose her?"

"As I said, right here."

"And you have no idea where she is?"

"Well, I know that she's somewhere in the school, if that's what you mean," Mrs. Tilwinkle replied.

"How do you know that?" Chris asked her, turning back suddenly.

"Oh, we had her under a protection—she couldn't leave the school until we removed it, so she can only shimmer _inside_ the school. There's no way she can leave."

Chris nodded, finally seeing a glimmer of hope to this impossible situation. "Did you try tracking her shimmer?"

"Oh, my boy, you forget that I'm not a whitelighter like you boys, though I've _always_ wanted to be one! You just have _such_ an amazing gift and you're always helpling people, you're just so special that i-it makes me want to cry!" Mrs. Tilwinkle's eyes moistened slightly and Chris froze.

"Don't cry," he said in an almost commanding voice. "We don't have _time_ for crying! Did you tell any of the other professors?"

Mrs. Tilwinkle sniffled, then said, "Of course not, I wouldn't want to bother them!"

"Huh…" Chris turned to Wyatt. "We need to find this Daphne-chick."

"Oh, but she's not a chicken," Mrs. Tilwinkle replied in all honesty, looking slightly confused.

Chris smiled, knowing there was nothing he could do to get past how incredibly lacking in brains this woman was. He turned to Wyatt again, and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You wanna deal with her? I'm gonna look around the room and see if I can track her shimmer."

"Wait—_I_ can do that, how about _you_ talk to Mrs. T?"

Chris glared at him, turning his back to Mrs. Tilwinkle. "I _swear_ I'm gonna kill her!" He mouthed to his brother.

"Oh, and you assume I won't?" Wyatt whispered back. He shoved his brother aside and gave his old school nurse a wide smile. "So… it's your anniversary?"

Chris rolled his eyes as Mrs. Tilwinkle burst forward with a rapid, thrilled speech that he was sure he wouldn't have been able to keep up with… if he had been bothering to listen. He walked around the room slowly, taking a deep breath to clear his mind… like _that_ would help. Still, he lightly touched the surfaces of the room, hoping to find a residue of an shimmer, a sliver of magic to hint where his Innocent might have shimmered off to. It was a pretty lucky thing that they had come in time, he thought. If they'd come in the evening like they were supposed to, the power of the shimmer would have faded away until they'd be left with no other option than to search the entire school.

He strolled over to the windows through which the sun was streaming in from its mid-day height. He fingered the velvet curtains that had been drawn aside, then the window-sill. Nothing. He turned towards the second set of doors to the nursing-rooms. He opened the door, then walked into the dimly-lit rooms with their rows of white-sheeted beds and small oak bed-side tables—all of them identical in every way. Oh, how he had hated this room. He had been in here once for getting in trouble with a leprechaun who had somehow acquired the dark-lighter poison that was used to dip their arrows in, made especially to kill white-lighters. Unfortunately, Kaleb, as the leprachaun's name was, was quite willing to use it and somehow managed to direct the liquid straight into Chris's mouth—an entire vile straight into Chris's system. A little bit of poison itself is very dangerous when at the tip of a dark-lighter bow but this was… not overly good. It took seven Elders and four days for Chris to recover completely and that was only because Wyatt had walked into the room immediately after the incident and had orbed him into the nursing-rooms. Thankfully, _Mrs. Tilwinkle_ was not the head nurse at that point. He had always wondered how she made it to the head-nurse position when she wasn't even a white-lighter, and thus lacked the natural healing powers. Wouldn't it just make sense to have a white-lighter as a nurse instead of a… whatever she was?

Chris felt a crazy desire to run from the place as he walked forward, recognizing the very bed he had laid in those eight years ago. He turned away and looked around the room. No wonder she had wanted to escape so badly… having only Mrs. Tilwinkle as company in this god-awful place… He took a turn around the room and, much to his frusteration, still found nothing.

He sighed and walked back to the door, then froze. There was that feeling again—a shudder almost, an intense feeling of… something unexplainable. He felt like he was somewhere he shouldn't be, somewhere he had to leave to be safe… because he wasn't safe here, he couldn't be—not with that dim-wit weirdo taking care of him.

"Whoa—" Chris whispered, stepping away from the door suddenly. A second later, it opened and Wyatt peaked in.

"Did you find anything?"

"Wyatt, walk forward a little," Chris told him, frowning. "Just take a big step forward and tell me what you feel."

Wyatt frowned back but did as he was told. Mrs. Tilwinkle followed behind him, looking confused. Within a second, Wyatt's expression suddenly changed to one of pure surprise mixed in with a little bit of anxiety. He stepped back immediately, looking up at him. "What was _that_?"

Chris nodded. "You felt it too?"

"Felt what?" Mrs. Tilwinkle asked him curiously.

"Yeah, it was almost like fear… but it wasn't fear. More like—"

"Determination? A need to get out?"

"What are you boys talking about?" Mrs. Tilwinkle asked again, louder this time.

Wyatt nodded. "But what—"

"I think we found our dark-lighter-demon girl's magic resedue."

Wyatt's mouth fell open slightly. "Wow! That's one powerful shimmer!"

"Tell me about it!"

"What's wrong?" Mrs. Tilwinkle asked, even louder this time.

"Usually, magical resedues are just glimmers of light or a slight tremor through the air, sometimes just a guttural feeling saying _this_ was what the person was looking for but never such a strong emotion," Wyatt explained to her, carefully stepping around the spot where the residue lingered. "This one is _very_ unique because it's like the person left a part of them behind when they shimmered, more particularly their _emotions_."

"Well, do you know where the girl went?" Mrs. Tilwinkle asked.

Chris nodded slowly. "She was trying to orb to the Underworld."

"What? But whyever would she want to do that?" Mrs. Tilwinkle wondered. "Doesn't she know she's wanted by the demons?"

"She probably does," Wyatt replied.

"Then why—"

"We'll have to find her and ask her that, won't we," Chris replied, looking up. "It seems that when her attempt to orb out failed, she decided to orb somewhere else."

"The gates."

(0)

Seconds later, Chris and Wyatt both orbed to the entrance gates of the Magical School, landing on the wet grass on either side of the pathway leading out of the schools. They looked around, searching for someone, anyone, but there was no one on the grounds. "Well, let's start searching."

They didn't have to go quite far before Wyatt suddenly froze. Chris turned to him. "Did you find something?"

Wyatt's eyes narrowed. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I did."

"Well?"

"You keep searching. I'll be right back."

"Wait, Wyatt—"

But his brother had orbed out before Chris could say another word. He growled with frustration and continued walking through the grounds. "Daphne… Daphne… where are you?"

He fingered the bars of the giant metal doors guarding the entrance to the Magical School. She couldn't have been far from here when she shimmered—aha. There it was again, but this time, it was another emotion, one that was quite familiar to him by now—pure frustration and nothing more. He grinned. At least he wasn't the only one having a bad day…

He sighed and orbed directly to the library.

When he appeared there, it was to find the room in complete chaos. Several books were strewn about on the floor, their ancient pages hanging out, reminding him of the way cartoons portrayed dead people with their tongues hanging out of their mouths. Desks were overturned, their legs broken, pages were floating down from the ceiling where their former binding had abandoned them and an entire shelf on one wall had been torn down and now lay like a wooden platform on the ground on top of several books.

And the cause of all this chaos turned out to be five children.

"Get away, demon! I swear I'm gonna sock ya so good it—"

"Whoa!" Chris jumped out of the way as a candelabrum came flying through the air, straight at his head. He turned to the little boy—barely more than ten years of age—who had managed to orb it in such a lethal way. He heard a good thump behind him, signaling that the heavy metal object had hit the wall and probably left a sizely dent. "What the hell is your problem—"

"Aaah!" The child wailed, sending an ink pen at him… no, not at him, _past_ him and toward the wall behind him. Chris frowned and turned around just to catch a shimmer of black behind him. As soon as the pet struck the wall and fell to the floor, life-less once more, the shimmer reappeared and, with it, a young woman, probably in her early twenties, with raven-black hair and wide blue eyes.

"You better stop that, kid! I swear I'll blow you up—"

One of the other kids in the room, a seven-year-old girl who had one of the morning classes with his dad, cried out in fear and sent one of the strewn books towards the woman, missing her by a mile with her still undeveloped, clumsy magic.

"Ariel, don't! I've got it," the first young boy shouted heroically. "Die, demon!"

"Hold it!" Chris yelled, intercepting a flaming candle and sending it straight back to the table the boy had taken it from. He turned to stop another book from the terrified girl, Ariel, then one of the broken legs from a desk that another kid had decided to use as a weapon. "All right, that's it! Stop this, now!"

The room fell into complete silence the next second and a hovering book plopped to the floor in mid-orb. Chris looked from one kid to the next—the leader-boy, the girl named Ariel, a nine-year-old boy he did not recognize, and two young muses covering behind a fallen desk. No wonder the ten-year-old boy had been so pumped with energy and inspiration, Chris thought with a slight shake of his head, he was probably filled with the un-controlled magic of the muses in their fear.

"Chris," the boy whispered. "There's a demon behind you."

"She's not a demon, Charlie," Chris replied.

"Thank you!"

Chris turned to shoot an annoyed look at Daphne, then turned back to the boy. "Now, go get the Elders and tell them to come clean up this mess, okay?"

The boy nodded and, with his friends, walked out of the room, shooting anxious looks towards them. When they were finally out of the room, Chris turned on her. "What the hell were you doing?"

She had the nerve to scoff at him. "Oh, so now this is _my_ fault?"

Chris crossed his arms and looked at her. "Isn't it?"

"No!" She replied. "I just came in here to look for a book and that _crazy_ boy decides to attack me!"

"You scared him… _and_ the rest of the kids, including the muses. That's why he was attacking you."

"What, hasn't he ever seen a woman before?" She replied, sarcastically.

"Woman, yes, dark-lighter-demon, no."

She froze, watching him with her anxious blue eyes. "How did you know that?"

Chris sighed, knowing he didn't have the time _or_ the patience to deal with this right now. Besides, explanations were never his thing. "Wyatt?" He called out. Nothing. He groaned—where the _hell_ was his brother when he needed him?

"Who's Wyatt?"

"He's my brother and he was _supposed to be here_! Wyatt!"

"What!" Wyatt appeared a few feet away from him, looking even more irritated that Chris currently felt. That didn't please him. He had no right to be irritated—he hadn't had to deal with a group of crazy kids!

Then, his brother looked around the room and his irritation fell away. "What happened here?"

"I'll explain later. First business—I found Daphne, so we need to go talk to the Elders about what to do next—"

"How do you know my name?" Daphne interrupted. "Who _are_ you people?"

"We're white-lighters," Chris shot back off-handedly, immediately turning back to his brother. "First, we need to wait here and explain what happened to the library."

"Um… what _did_ happen to the library?" Wyatt asked.

"Three kids scared shitless, two muses who were _also_ scared shitless, and one dark-lighter-demon who lacked the brains to realize that her _demon_ shimmer would probably scare whoever was in the library."

"Listen here, mister!" Daphne started, taking a step towards Chris.

"_But that's not the point_!" Chris talked over her, not bothering to look at her. "The point is, we need to talk to the Elders and get out of here so we can handle the next set of crazy demons before they destroy the mansion."

"Mom's there, isn't she?" Wyatt shrugged.

"No, she's probably at the restaurant—"

Suddenly, Daphne disappeared with a growl of frustration and a dark shimmer. Chris and Wyatt, both completely caught by surprise, took several moments to follow her, both quite outraged by her actions but Chris _far_ more than Wyatt. They orbed out of the room, following the trace of Daphne's shimmer, and reappeared in the long hallway in front of a familiar office just as Daphne burst through the doors.

"I need to get out of here!" They heard her say inside the office.

"Daphne, what are you doing here?" Leo asked her, caught off guard.

"She's being an idiot, that's what," Chris replied bursting through the doors after her. "She still doesn't realize that shimmering as she pleases through the halls of a _magic_ school where untrained children are running about is _not_ a good idea!"

"You know what," Daphne scoffed turning to him. "I don't really know who the hell you are but I would love to just blow you up!" She opened her hand at her side, conjuring a fireball in her palm.

"Oh, don't even go there!" Chris replied, finally glad to get the chance to vent his anger on someone. Within a second, he had an energy ball conjured also, ready to fire.

"Daphne!" Leo shouted.

"Chris!" Wyatt complimented his father.

Suddenly, the energy ball and the fireball both disappeared and reappeared in either of Leo's hands where he easily extinguished them. "What the hell is wrong with you guys?"

"For the millionth time, I _need_ to get out of here!" Daphne replied, turning around. She slammed her hands down on Leo's desk and glared at him.

"Well, good, 'cuz I don't think I'd mind if you just go back to Hell! I'm sure your dad will be very happy and so will a lot of other people!" Chris replied.

Wyatt jumped in front of him, pushing him away from Daphne. "Chris, shut up!"

"Chris, you know she can't do that," Leo said to him in his stern, fatherly voice. "There's no way we can let you go back to the Underworld, Daphne."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Daphne scoffed. "I don't want to go to the Underworld, I just want to get out of _this_ hell!"

"Yeah, well, this _hell_ is saving your ass from your father's fellow demons," Chris muttered quite loudly.

"Who _are_ you? And how do you know about my father?" Daphne demanded. She turned back to Leo and said, "I thought this was supposed to be a secret. Did you tell everyone on the planet about my lineage?"

"Daphne, I did _not_ tell everyone, just your protectors," Leo replied.

"Then how does _he_ know about my dad?"

"Because I _am_ your protector!" Chris groaned. Was she _really_ that dense?

"What!"

"Daphne—"

"He's a _boy_, Leo!"

"Who are _you_ calling a boy?" Chris challenged, taking an intimidating step towards her. Immediately, Wyatt pushed him back again, wondering if he had to tie him up… it wasn't a bad idea…

"For God's sake, Daphne, don't be ridiculous!" Leo tried reasoning with her. "He's three years older than you."

"Well, I guess that's not saying much, huh? Looking at her maturity-level—" Chris began but was silenced by identical glares from his father and brother.

"He's far more powerful than you can imagine and he and his brother can protect you," Leo returned to Daphne. "They've been doing this for years."

"What, dealing with dark-lighter-demons?" Daphne sneered, crossing her arms.

"No, dealing with immature children," Chris replied. It was slightly true… growing up with all those cousins who were all younger than them.

"Oh, it's actually witty!" Daphne laughed sarcastically.

"Okay! Everybody, _shut _up!" Leo yelled very loudly, shocking everyone into silence. "Wyatt, Chris leaves the room _right now_! Daphne, sit down and stop looking at me like you're going to murder me because I can assure you that the moment I hear one more person yelling any sort of snide comment, I'll be the first to kill them!"

For twenty-five years, Leo had raised Chris. In fact, Chris had known Leo even longer than that since he went back in time to change the future and had met his father and mother then. Never in all this time had he seen his dad be so angry or authoritative. As he left the room with Wyatt behind him, he thought of how he'd probably never look at his father the same way again.

The door shut behind them and they were left in silence. Until Wyatt looked up at him with a look that very simply said, 'you idiot'.

"What?" Chris demanded. Then, not bothering to wait for a reply, he walked away from him, not knowing exactly where he was going, but knowing that wherever he went, the day was only going to get worse.

(0)

"Daphne, listen to me. You are far safer with Chris and Wyatt than you'll ever be by yourself," Leo said softly to the woman before him. "They _are_ very powerful."

"It doesn't matter, Leo. No matter how powerful they are, it doesn't matter because I know they can't take on all the demons of the Underworld, they're not _that_ powerful," Daphne replied earnestly. "Trust me, I've grown up around them."

"Well, trust _me_. I know how powerful they are. I've witnessed them go up against demons all their life. They're really good at what they do, Daphne. Let them protect you."

"I don't need protection," Daphne lied through her teeth.

Leo raised a single eyebrow at her. "I'll ignore that statement since we both know it's false."

"He's my father, Leo. I don't need to be protected from my father."

"But you do need to be protected from the Nemritzar Demon—"

"Who happens to be my father," Daphne pointed out.

"And also your mortal enemy."

"Aye, there's the rub," Daphne sighed.

Leo grinned. "Are you quoting Shakespeare?"

"Oh, yeah… you know. I saw him on one of my spying-trips through Heaven and he struck me as a witty fella'," she shrugged, then grinned. Leo laughed.

A silence followed during which Daphne took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Does it _have_ to be someone who hates me?"

"What?"

"My protectors," Daphne replied.

"They don't hate you—"

Daphne scoffed.

"—You just got off on the wrong foot," Leo amended her delicately. "They've been having a rough week, what with all the demons attacking, trying to find you and stuff."

"Huh… _they've_ been having a rough week?" She asked him, incredulous. "Try _my_ week!"

"And you'll have a great competition going on," Leo agreed. "Still, they're not really used to _protecting_ dark-lighters or demons, much less a combination of the two."

"Well, I'm not used to being protected by white-lighters either."

"Oh, and they're also part witches," Leo told her.

"And the surprises keep building up," Daphne reflected.

Leo smiled. "You will be safe with them, I can assure you."

Daphne rolled her eyes. "I know… just not very happy, huh?"

"If you start off thinking like that, then no, I suppose not."

"Well, like you said, we _did_ start off on the wrong foot."

It was an hour later that Chris and Wyatt orbed into their father's office upon his call. His head far cooler, Chris took a seat in front of Leo as his brother did the same. "So, what's the verdict," he asked. "Are we still protecting her or did she decide to just wing it in the Underworld?"

"You're protecting her," Leo confirmed.

"And here I was… so hopeful," Chris muttered softly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Chris replied. "So you just want us to take her back to the mansion or something?" He asked, ready to get up and leave.

"_Actually_, I wanted you to take her by Aunt Phoebe's place first. There's a… surprise waiting for you three."

Chris frowned. "Dad, I don't like surprises."

"Yeah, and I don't think you'll like this one at all, but," Leo looked at both his sons with a large grin that told them he didn't want to ruin it for them, "it's for the greater good, remember that. I'm late for my next class."

With that, Leo had orbed out of the room. Chris and Wyatt looked at each other. "That's _not_ good."

"No," Wyatt agreed.

The doors opened behind them and Daphne came in, dressed in a pair of baggy jeans and an even baggier sweatshirt. "Are we ready to leave, boys?"

Chris stared at her outfit. "_Why_ are you dressed like that?"

"It's the only human-outfit I have," Daphne replied with a slight edge to her voice. "They're Leo's."

"He's right… we _do_ need to get her to Aunt Phoebe's," Wyatt whispered.


	3. Chapter 2 Part I

_**Chapter 2**_

It didn't take long for Phoebe to find an outfit that… _suited_ Daphne a little better than Leo's clothes. WhenDaphne finallycame back downstairs, Wyatt couldn't help but give a soft wolf-whistle in her direction. He turned to Chris with a wide grin on his face. "Would you look at that? She's _hot_!"

Chris rolled his eyes. "She's our I_nnocent_, Wyatt."

"So? She can still be hot, can't she?"

"Of course I can," Daphne replied, walking up behind them. "And thanks for the compliment, Wyatt."

Wyatt turned around, frowning. He could swear that he hadn't been talking that loud—

"So, Aunt Phoebe," Chris sighed turning to his aunt. "What's this 'surprise' we were hearing about?"

Phoebe looked at her nephews, knowing they would _not_ take well to the news. "Um… why don't you take a seat first? I'll go get some tea or something, some cookies. Your mom's cookies, actually, I know you like them a lot. I mean…" she chuckled slightly, "who wouldn't? Piper's such a great cook, and all—she has her own restaurant, you know!"

"Yeah, we know," Chris replied, frowning. There was something very wrong going on here… Whyelse would his aunt be blabbering? And stalling?"She _is_ our mom."

Phoebe grinned quickly. "That's right! What do you know… I was actually telling Daphne," she amended, turning to her quickly. "Did you know that their mom is the most amazing cook ever?"

Daphne smiled awkwardly. "No, I did not."

"Well… and now you know! Okay, everybody, take a seat and I'll be right back!" Phoebe hurried out of the room quickly, eager to delay the news for a little while longer.

"What's up with her?" Chris wondered out loud.

Wyatt shrugged. At once, both of them turned to Daphne who was pointedly trying to avoid their eyes.

"Daphne."

"Hmm?" She turned to Wyatt innocently. "Did you say something?"

Both brothers crossed their arms and stared at her expectantly. When she still didn't break, Chris sighed. "You can tell us now or we can throw you out onto the street and you can tell your fellow demon-friends once your dead."

"Okay," Daphne replied, sitting down on the couch.

"Okay? You don't even care?" Chris replied, incredulous.

"Um, first of all, you wouldn't throw me out—Leo would have your guts along with all the other Elders. Second of all, I can kick those demons' asses any day and they wouldn't lay a finger on me in return. Third, this is just too fun to spoil the surprise!" She ended with a wide grin.

Chris chuckled slightly, shaking his head. He turned to Wyatt all amusement dropping from his face into rage. "I am seriously going to kill her!" He whispered.

"You wouldn't dare," Daphne challenged, smiling sweetly.

"Try me, witch!" Chris snapped back, taking a menacing step forward.

"Mm, correction! Demon… or dark-lighter. Definitely not a witch," she sighed apologetically. "I thought you knew that already."

"Oh, I am going to—" Chris began to growl, taking yet another step towards her.

"What's going on here? Who are _you_?"

Still glaring at the little vixen, Chris said, "Nothing, Uncle Coop. We were just getting to know our _Innocent_ here."

"Oh, hello," his uncle replied, stretching a hand towards Daphne. Daphne smiled back at him and shook it. "I'm Coop."

"I'm Daphne."

"Pleasure to meet you," Coop replied with a polite nod. Then, he turned to his nephews. "Do you know where your aunt is? I need to talk to her about something."

"Like your daughter?" Wyatt asked him, a quirking an eyebrow.

Coop frowned. "Actually… yes. What—Wyatt, you haven't been following her again, have you?"

"Is that where you disappeared off to this morning?" Chris asked, turning to him. "I wondered where you went."

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "Maybe… I was. _Maybe_!"

"Wyatt!" Coop groaned. "No wonder she was so pissed off!"

"Pissed off? Do you know where she's been these past few weeks?" Wyatt replied, his voice rising slightly. "She and that _boy_ were running around Satan's Pit this morning and the demons that live there weren't very happy!"

"Wait, Satan's Pit?" Daphne interrupted, standing up, but Chris cut her off with a significant look. He knew that it was _not_ a wise idea to try to jump into this conversation.

"What's going on here?" Phoebe frowned, walking into the room. She saw her husband rubbing his forehead and her oldest nephew glaring at him and she immediately knew what was going on. "Wyatt, what did you do?"

"What!" Wyatt exclaimed, feeling quite picked-upon.

"Coop, what's wrong?" Phoebe asked, ignoring him.

"Wyatt's been following Cathryn around Satan's Pitagain and she wasn't very happy about it," Coop told her. Then, he turned to Wyatt. "Listen, Wyatt, I'm just as worried about her as you are if not more—I _am_, after all, her father—"

"Are you kidding?" Wyatt scoffed. "It was probably your idea to begin with—why else would she be so infatuated with that idiot?"

"Whoa, there, boys!" Phoebe jumped into action, stepping in between her husband and her nephew before they attacked each other. "Wyatt, as sweet as it is that you care about Cathryn so much, just believe us that we've got everything under control. And Coop—" here, she got very serious and glared at her husband "—why didn't you tell me that Cathryn was running around _Satan's Pit_?"

"She didn't want me to tell you," Coop sighed.

"And you _listened_ to her? What is wrong with you?" Phoebe replied, stepping forward. "I'm her mother, you need to tell me when my daughter is indulging herself in dangerous activities!"

"I've been following her to make sure that she doesn't get into any actual trouble, Phoebe, don't worry," Coop told her.

"Wait a second—is that where you've been all this time? Following our daughter around the Underworld?"

Coop looked very uncomfortable. Looking away from his wife's glare, he shrugged slightly. "M-maybe."

"Coop! You've lied to me!"

Chris looked from his uncle to his aunt, then to his brother who was looking quite smug with himself. "Um… Aunt Phoebe? I think we'll come back at a better time—"

"You! Sit down right now!" Phoebe ordered in a strict voice, pointing at Chris. She turned back to Coop. "You—you leave _right_ now and get our daughter back here before I go after her myself. Go!"

Coop disappeared immediately, almost glad to get away from his wife. Phoebe, panting slightly with anger, turned around to face Wyatt. "And you, as much as I appreciate your concern, Cathryn's pissed at you enough already so it would be a very wise decision not to bother her anymore." After taking a deep breath, she added, "Don't worry, she's already in enough trouble. She won't be seeing that boy for a _long_ time."

Satisfied enough with this, Wyatt sat down opposite from Chris and Daphne who had both snapped down in the couch upon Phoebe's order. After several seconds, Phoebe sighed, much more calmer. "Now, where were we?"

"You were about to tell us what we were doing here," Chris provided for her.

"Yes, that's right," Phoebe nodded. "Well, let's get to the point then... before Cathryn gets here—" she stopped suddenly and took another deep breath to calm herself again before continuing "—Leo wanted me to tell you that the best way to protect Daphne is to have her mix in with human beings."

"What?" Wyatt asked.

"He wants Daphne to get a job."

"A job." Chris and Wyatt said at the same time.

"As an advice columnist," Phoebe confirmed.

Chris laughed out loud, unable to help himself. "That's a joke right?"

"I can assure you that I'm _not_ in a very joking mood right now, Chris," Phoebe replied, quite seriously. "Daphne's getting a job at the Sunday Gallery. And both of you as well."

Immediately, a commosion burst out as all three of them began yelling their own objections to the statement.

"Why do they have to work with me? It's not like I'll need protection at work or anything—"

"I'm not going to work for a _newspaper_! I haven't the least idea how to write a damn article and besides, I don't need a job—"

"I can't get another job, Aunt Phoebe, I'm busy enough with the clinic-work and I swear I won't be a good reporter—"

"Shut up, all of you!"

The room fell silent immediately.

Phoebe turned to Daphne first, "Demons don't care _where_ you are, Daphne, they're going to attack you whether you're in an airplane or in a rock-concert! They're going to be working with you, period." She turned to Chris next. "And, Chris, you _are_ going to work for Sunday Gallery no matter what. Nobody gives a damn if you can write or not, especially because you're just going to be the chief editor's secretary and all you'll have to do is get her coffee every morning and smile once in a while." Finally, she turned to Wyatt, "And you—" She stopped for a while thoughtfully, then said, "Let me talk to Leo, I understand your work at the clinic is pretty important so—"

"Wait, you're going to let him slide?" Chris asked, bewildered. "Why do I have to work if he doesn't?"

"Because I already have a job," Wyatt grinned. "All those little kids depend on me!"

At one point, Chris had Wyatt's work was really cool, even though it was through an odd twist of events that he had ended up with it—events that included an ex-girlfriend who was now probably a white-lighter whose last, dying wish had been for Wyatt to take up her spot at the UMC Clinic as the head-superviser for the Children's Area. Wyatt, since he had actually studied medicine and acquired a degree in child psychology was immediately accepted for the vacant position and was about to celebrate his third-year anniversary at his job. Now, however, Chris found the job absolutely disgusting—just a pathetic excuse that Wyatt had had prepared just so he could kick Chris in the mouth when the time came… and the time was here and the kick was quite painful.

"Besides, it is _less likely_ that the demons would attack Daphne at work so one white-lighter-witch-guy should be enough to protect her," Phoebe agreed. "Now, it would be much appreciated if you could all just clear out of here so I can talk to my daughter." She grabbed her purse from its place on the coffee-table and rummaged through it till she found a small business card. "I've already talked to Carmen, the chief editor. I've known her for quite a long time and she agreed to employ you guys. Just head over there and tell her that I sent you. I'm sure she'll fill you up with all the information you need."

"Aunt Phoebe, I really don't—" Chris tried reasoning with her again.

"Chris, I always thought you were a very sensible person—smart even," Phoebe cut him off, pulling him off the couch and ushering him towards the door with Daphne and Wyatt following right behind. "So, please, don't make me lose my opinion of you now."

>>(0) 

"My opinion of you is that you're a scumbag!" Paige growled.

"My, my, aren't we feeling very angry righ' now?" The demon replied snidely, his back turned to her as he paced the floor.

"I don't know about you, but I'm actually very pissed off, to tell the truth," Paige replied, smiling ever-so-politely. "Why don't you just kill me now and get it done with? I'm growing slightly restless and I'm sure you're growing very annoyed with my constant talking and all—"

"Oh, you have no idea," the demon replied with a growl, turning around to face her.

"So, kill me."

He smiled. "Ye would like that, wouldn't ye? Make me lose my head, lose control, then perhaps ye can find a weakness? A glitch in my plan?"

"Oh, you read my mind!" Paige replied sarcastically.

"Trust me, it's what I do best," he replied with a chuckle.

Paige frowned, letting a silence fall between them for a moment before asking, "Who are you?"

"No one of consequence… yet."

"And what is the consequence _going_ to be?"

"Ye'll have to wait and find out, won't ye?"

Suddenly, they were interrupted when two large demons shimmered into the cave behind him, holding on to either arm of a young boy who was trying his best to struggle out of their grasp. Pity was, their grasps were like iron and he was probably going to pull his arms out of their sockets before he got away from them. Paige straightened, frowning… he looked very familiar for some odd reason.

"Who's this?"

"We found him wandering about, searching for a witch," one of the guards told him, his voice mean and low like a boot shuffling through gravel.

"Which one?"

"He wouldn't say."

Paige watched as the demon sat down on his heels before the boy, looking up into his face. He stopped struggling and looked right back without a trace of fear in his eyes. A sudden fear struck her… could it be…?

"Who is this witch?" The demon asked him with a smooth, silky voice.

"I'll never tell," the boy replied bravely.

The demon chuckled. "Ah, but you don't need to." He stood up again. "Take him to the dungeons and tie 'im up. We'll see how long his bravery holds up."

The demons immediately shimmered away with the boy. Paige watched the demon, eyes narrowed upon his back. "What're you going to do to him?"

"None of yer business," the demon snarled back. Then, he turned to look at her, sneering. "Don't worry yer pretty little head with the fate of that boy. It's already sealed." With that, he shimmered out also, leaving Paige alone in her cage.

She stared up at the celing. "Phoebe… Piper! Where are you?"

>>(0) 

"Why did you bring me here?" Cathryn demanded as soon as appeared in her living room next to her dad and spotted Phoebe sitting in the couch with her eyes close. "I need to get back to school, it's almost time for class."

"Forget class," Phoebe waved it off, turning to her. "Come sit down here for a while."

"Mom…"

"Cathryn, I'll personally talk to the Elders and excuse your absence. Come sit." She looked at her husband and nodded slightly, telling him to leave them alone. He sighed and disappeared.

Cathryn stalked over to the rocking chair in front of her mother and sat down, dropping her back-pack to the ground. "Is something wrong?"

Phoebe didn't speak for a long time, knowing she had to handle this gently. Finally, she said, "Were you hanging out with Damien?"

Cathryn nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"Where were you guys hanging out?"

Cathryn stared at her for a while, then sighed, falling back against the chair, setting it rocking back and forth. "You've been talking to Wyatt lately, haven't you?"

"Cathryn, he just wants to make sure you're not getting yourself in trouble, that's it," Phoebe explained, careful to keep her voice calm and soft. "He really cares about you, you know."

"He's not my brother, Mom."

"He practically is," Phoebe replied. "And what's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong is that he's always bothering me!" Cathryn cried back. "He's way too overprotective and I _really_ don't need that! I'm sixteen, I can take care of myself." She growled with frustration, tucking a whisp of dark brown hair behind her ear.

"Even when faced with a dozen angry demons in Satan's Pit?" Phoebe asked.

"Yes, and Damien can protect me too, you know," Cathryn shot back, quite confident of herself.

"Cathryn, you're trusting a boy who you met three weeks ago over your parents and your cousin who you've known all your life?"

"But I know Damien, Mom, even if I met him just three weeks ago. He's a really nice guy—"

"I know and that's why I was fine with you hanging out with him, but, honey," Phoebe sighed, "you have to admit that I have reason to worry. Gallavanting about the Underworld isn't exactly a parent's idea of a 'safe date'… imagine how you would feel if this was _your_ daughter we were talking about."

"I don't have a daughter," Cathryn scoffed.

"But if you did… and you found out she was hanging out in the Underworld with a boy you barely knew and getting a bunch of demons pissed off at her, wouldn't you be concerned?"

"Mom, I'm telling you that you can trust Damien!"

"You're missing the point," Phoebe replied. "I understand why you like this boy, Cathryn—he's cute, he's nice, and he has a little bit of danger mixed in. It's the irresistible mix!"

Her daughter grinned slightly. "Yeah, it is."

"And I've met enough guys like that to know how you feel. But I know that you know exactly how dangerous the Underworld is. I've been in your spot several times, hon, but I've never let my judgement get clouded by my feelings for a guy. I know that you're smart enough not to do let them cloud yours too."

Cathryn looked away from her with a sigh. After a long moment of silence, Phoebe stood up cheerfully, knowing that she got through to her daughter… atleast to some extent. Not that she could blamer her—she remembered how hot-headed she had been at her age and… to tell the truth, Cathryn's actions were _nothing_ compared to what _she_ had acted like when she was sixteen.

"So, you want to go grab an early dinner with your dad and me? We're going over to Aunt Piper's restaurant and Jennyfer will probably join us too."

Cathryn bit her lip. "Sorry, can't. Damien and I are going out in an hour."

Phoebe quirked an eyebrow. "Cathryn, I _really _don't think—"

"Don't worry," her daughter sighed, "we're just going to a movie."

"I think you need to take some time from this boy, Cathryn… for my sake?"

"I know what I'm doing, mom," Cathryn pouted in a very childish matter. "Please don't punish him for something I did."

"But, Cathryn—"

"Give me one more chance, please?"

Phoebe looked at her youngest daughter for a few moments, then smiled. "All right. Just call for Dad if you need anything, okay? He can always hear you, remember."

"Thanks," Cathryn replied, nodding. She picked up her backpack and gave her mother a hug. "Thanks a lot, Mom."

"Anytime, baby."


	4. Chapter 2 Part II

"She was going to throw a _fireball_ at him?"

"You're missing the point. He was ready to kill her too—"

"Yeah… but he isn't the one needing protection here," Piper retorted. "Besides, he was probably just defending himself—"

Leo laughed. "Honey, Chris _rarely_ ever does something just to defend himself."

"Leo, I can't believe you're laughing at this! A dark-lighter-demon-chick was going to kill your son!"

"And my son was going to kill her right back," Leo pointed out for the millionth time. "My point is that they really got off on the wrong foot—"

"I'll say!" Piper mumbled. "So where are they now?"

"He said he'll meet us here for dinner. They apparently needed to stop by Phoebe's place again to get some more clothes for her. The only thing she has to wear right now are her goth-style black demon-robes and a pair of very baggy jeans and sweatshirt that your distant uncle gave me for Christmas."

"Oh, _those_ jeans and sweatshirt?" Piper grimaced. "That can't be good…"

Leo nodded. "It _wasn't_. Thank God Phoebe had some clothes in her size before she went for her interview or else the editor would've probably sent her to the home-less shelter."

"Why didn't you give her something else to wear or ask me for some clothes?"

"I didn't have any other clothes at the school—and the only reason I had your uncle's _gift_ was because I had buried it in my closet long ago, never wanting to lay my eyes on them. I didn't have enough time to come back here and ask you for something because I was sure she would either try to run away or find Chris and Wyatt and try to blow them up again."

"Hmm…" Piper shook her head slightly. "So much for doing her a _favor_, huh? Oh, by the way, did the Elders find out anything about Paige—"

"Yes, and it's very good news," Leo replied, smiling. "Apparently, Paige went down there herself—it's a plan to get this demon that's been killing all these witches around the world and she wanted to take it up with him—"

Piper shook her head, knowing it couldn't be true. "She would check with us first, Leo, she wouldn't go galavanting after demons without informing us first."

"Yes, well, I got to talk to her personally, hon. She's fine, and she says it's all part of the plan. She's perfectly capable—"

"Leo, you utter one more word about she being able to take care of herself and I swear I'll blow you up!" Piper warned quite seriously. "She's my _sister. _My little sister! No matter how confident she is about this 'plan' of hers, I can't let her do this! It's too dangerous."

"I know it's dangerous, Piper, and she knows that too."

"Good, because I need you to orb me to wherever the hell she is—"

"But she's well beyond old enough to take care of herself, Piper. This is something she has to do for her charges."

Piper, getting quite irritated with her husband, froze him with a flick of her wrists. "And this is something _I_ have to do for my sister."

She stormed out of the stuffy kitchens of The Halliwell Dining Hall and into the crowd of customers outside. After searching around quickly for the table where her sister now sat, laughing at something her husband said, she froze the rest of the restaurant and approached Phoebe. "Pheobes, we need to go get Paige."

Phoebe blinked several times, looking around her at the frozen room. Wyatt and she shared a look, both of them sighing simultaneously. "Mom, what are you doing?"

"We need to go get Paige—she's in the Underworld—"

"I know that," Phoebe interrupted.

"And she thinks she's got this plan or something to vanquish a demon, but we have to go help her—it's too dangerous."

"Piper," Phoebe sighed, trying to reason with her sister. "She knows what she's doing. She's smart enough to know what she's doing."

Piper frowned, looking from her sister to her son. "W-What is going on here?"

Phoebe looked at Wyatt, then back at her. "What do you mean?"

"What I _mean _is that you're acting all weird—both of you and Leo and—"

"We're not acting weird," Phoebe replied. "We just think Paige is old enough to not be over-protected by her big sister—"

"She's _never _old enough to not be protected by her big sister! She might be in a lot of danger, Phobe—"

"She can take care of it, Piper," Phoebe sighed. "Honey, we all love you and we all know you just want to protect us but—"

"We're old enough to take care of ourselves, Mom," Wyatt finished for his aunt. "Aunt Paige will be fine, trust me."

Piper looked at them both, knowing they were right. Good God, was she _always _overreacting nowadays? Did everybody see it but her? She blinked. No, of course not! Paige was her sister! God… this was just getting way too confushing—

"Piper, did you just freeze me?" Leo asked her, coming up from behind her.

Piper scoffed, turning around to look at him. "No, honey, of course not!" She replied sarcastically. "It was the Angel of Destiny!"

Leo quirked an eyebrow at her, then put his arm around her shoulders. "Paige will be fine. I won't let anything happen to her and the Elders have her on their radar at all times. If anything goes wrong—"

"You'll tell _me_," Piper reminded him. "I can't have you hiding these things from me, Leo."

Leo nodded, grinning. "You will be the first person to know."

Piper smiled, then sighed again. "I gotta run into the kitchens quickly."

"Uh, Mom, before you go—" Wyatt looked at Coop who was frozen still halfway through laughing at something he had said.

"Oh, right!" Piper flicked her wrists and the restaurant returned to life again, the usual bustle and hustle back. "I'll be barely three seconds, just need to make sure Petre is not mixing in any more wine into the risotto than needed."

"Come quick." Leo leaned down and kissed her, smiling, then let her return to the bustling kitchens of the restaurant, slightly relieved himself to be out of the heat of the large stoves and ovens. The restaurant was set in dim, romantic-lighting with electric candles lining the walls and illuminating the individual tables. Outside, the street was in its usual hustle and bustle with the city lights sparkling among the noisy cabs and pedestrians, but inside, the room was complimented by soft music being played by a young man who had apparently been taking piano lessons for twenty-four years. Leo sighed, wondering for probably the thousandth time about how Piper managed to establish such an amazing place all those years ago… her dream restaurant.

He turned back to Phoebe, Wyatt and Coop—who had finished his laugh and stopped suddenly, slightly confused at why Piper had appeared suddenly. "Wait, did she just—"

"So!" Leo said loudly, grinning. "How's it going?

"Perfectly fine," Phoebe sighed.

"But we don't want to say anything about it," Wyatt added. "Don't want to jinx it, do we?"

Suddenly, two angry voices chirped up behind them. "She was being nice!"

"She was being suspicious! What did you expect me to think?"

"That she was being _nice_! After all, you should be _glad_ that your new boss is trying to be congenial—"

Wyatt turned to Leo with a half-hearted smile on his face. "What did I tell ya?" He turned around and waved towards Chris and Daphne as they made their way quite loudly through the restaurant, drawing several suspicious looks from the other occupants.

"She was practically pushing me out of the room—she wanted to get you alone. Why? So she could kill you!"

"She asked you for a cup of coffee! That's your job now, Chris, you better get used to it! And she wanted me alone so she could ask _me _about my past experience in the field without you interrupting every other word."

"I just wanted to make sure you got your story right. If I hadn't stopped you at one point, you would've almost told her your dad was a frickin' demon!"

"Watch your tongue!"

They both came to a stop right next to the table, not bothering to aknowledge that everybody was staring at them.

"You're a bloody demon and you're telling _me_ to watch my tongue?" Chris snapped back, somehow managing to keep his voice low so that no one beyond their table could hear him.

"Oh, that's so stereotypical! Besides, I wasn't telling you to mind your language, I was telling you to stop insulting my dad!"

"He _is_ a demon!"

"So?" She hissed.

"Okay, I'm back!" Piper grinned, coming to a stop beside Chris and Daphne. She frowned at them, realizing that they had a spat going. "Hi—what's going on here?"

Finally, Chris and Daphne both stopped arguing and turned to Piper, surprised to be interrupted.

"Oh, hi, Mom," Chris greeted her, shaking his head slightly to clear it.

"Hi, Chris and…"

"This is Daphne, our new _Innocent_—"

"You say that as if it's a laughable notion," Daphne scoffed at him. Then she turned back to Piper and smiled, "Hi, Mrs. Halliwell."

Piper frowned, looking from Daphne to Chris, then back to Daphne. "Um… hi." Finding that she had nothing else to fill the awkward silence with, she added, "You can call me Piper."

Chris rolled his eyes at Daphne and fell into the chair next to Wyatt.

Piper blinked at her younger son, shared an awkward look with the rest of her family, then turned back to Daphne, smiling politely. "It's nice to have you with us for dinner. Why don't you sit over there next to Phoebe?"

Everyone seemed to think this was an excellent idea since the empty chair next to Phoebe was the farthest away from Chris. Daphne scowled slightly, knowing perfectly well what everyone was thinking, and walked over to Phoebe's side.

"Honey, weren't Cathryn and Jennyfer also going to join us?" Coop asked her as Piper dropped down next to Leo with a wide smile towards Chris.

"Jennyfer got hung up—her roommate was having some problems with her boyfriend, so she said that she'd rather stay back and help her. And Cathryn…" Phoebe took a deep breath, knowing that there would soon be an outbrake at their table, "…has a date with Damien."

"What!" Wyatt and Coop jumped together.

"Phoebe, you're still letting her see this boy?"

"You told me you wouldn't let her, Aunt Phoebe!"

"Yes, I know, but—"

"But what? He's going to get her killed if you don't—"

"Oh, no! I am _not_ letting that fool do any such thing to my daughter!"

"Guys, I think Phoebe knows what she's doing—" Piper tried to interrupt.

"It sure doesn't seem like it," Wyatt scoffed.

Chris frowned, suddenly aware of the imminent danger Cathryn was in. He cleared his throat, surprised that it took him so long to realize this. "Um, Aunt Phoebe, it probably isn't a good idea to let the two of them hang together still, especially if they go back to the Underworld—"

"Oh, not you too, Chris!" Phoebe groaned.

"I'm just saying that because I'm sure there are a lot of demons looking for them already—they wouldn't take two witches messing up their home very lightly, you know."

"I know, Chris!" Phoebe replied. "Besides, they're not going to the Underworld anymore, Cathryn promised she wouldn't go even if he offered. They're just at the movies two blocks down you guys!" She turned to Wyatt and Coop. "Would you two like to go _check_? Or are you willing to take my word for it?"

Both men looked at each other, somewhat satisfied that she was just at the movies at least. Coop turned back to Phoebe, just to confirm, "Just at the movies, right?"

"Coop," Phoebe replied with a sugary smile. "You don't need to tell me how to take care of her daughter especially after _you_ were irresponsible enough not to tell me when she was running around the Underworld to begin with!"

Coop nodded, immediately turning away from his angry wife. "Okay… I was just wondering."

"Okay!" Piper chirped up, trying desperately to change the subject. "Let's order, shall we?"

"Um… Chris, can I have a word with you, please?"

Everybody turned to Daphne unanimously, surprised at how polite her words had actually sounded… especially directed towards Chris. After all, it was only seconds ago that they seemed to want to murder each other on the spot…

Chris frowned at her. "Um… sure?"

Daphne smiled back, ignoring the rest of the Halliwell-family and stood up. "You can order for me, Piper. After all, it _is_ your restaurant so you probably know what's good, right?"

Piper nodded, not very sure if she trusted this girl and her son alone together… given that they really didn't seem to like each other. "Of course, Daphne."

She turned to her husband the second Chris and Daphne left the table, heading towards the small bar in the corner of the restaurant. "Are we trusting this girl?"

Leo rolled his eyes. "Yes, we're trusting her, Piper. What we _don't_ trust is _them_ together."

Coop scoffed. "What do you think they'll do, jump together and have sex or something?"

Wyatt laughed nervously. "_That_ is the _farthest_ thing from my mind. If I were you," he said looking at Leo, "I'd follow them and make sure he doesn't kill our innocent."

"And that she doesn't kill our son," Piper pointed out.

"They are _not_ going to kill each other," Leo replied to the entire table. Hopefully…

Chris was frowning all the way from the table to the bar, quite uncertain where this was leading. Daphne finally stopped, far away from the family's hearing-range and took a deep breath.

Five whole seconds passed before Chris, tired of waiting for her to speak, said, "What?"

"You were right," Daphne blurted out. "The demons _are_ after Cathryn and Damien."

"What?" Chris whispered.

"Satan's Pit is my dad's 'land', if you can call it that. When your cousin and her boyfriend started trespassing, the demons came to him, demanding that he do something. Chris…" Daphne leaned forward, looking around nervously, "before I left, I heard him talking to a group of demons. He told them that he wanted 'those witches' to think twice before messing with him. I'm surprised they didn't catch her this morning—"

"Wait—_they_? Who _they_?" Chris asked her.

"The demons he summoned. There must be about ten of them and their only mission is to get to your cousin—"

Chris sighed, pulling his hand through his hair, unable to believe what he was hearing. "Why didn't you tell me this before?" He demanded heatedly.

"I was going to this morning at Phoebe's when I found out that it was _her daughter_ who was passing through Satan's Pit. But when she told Wyatt that there was no way she'd let Cathryn hang out with Damien anymore, I thought that it didn't matter anymore since she probably wouldn't go down there by herself anymore," Daphne explained. "But now that they seem to be 'back together…" She looked at him for a moment, unable to believe that she was actually saying this—she didn't even know her, for goodness' sake! "I'm just a little concerned, I guess."

Chris closed his eyes for a moment, contemplating the information he had just received. "We need to get to the movie theatres."

"Do you think they'll attack them there?" Daphne whispered.

"I don't know, you tell me," Chris replied, crossing his arms in front of him.

Daphne thought about it for a moment, biting her lip, then nodded. "They'll do anything to please my father."

Chris nodded back slowly. "Then we need to go." He turned towards the back-exit but she stopped him.

"Aren't you going to tell your aunt or your brother or anything?"

"Wyatt's pissed enough as he is," Chris replied. "And Aunt Phoebe doesn't need to feel like Cathryn dissapointed her—"

"But she didn't do anything," Daphne pointed out.

"No, she didn't. But the moment a demon attacks, Aunt Phoebe will feel that it's her fault and that Daphne shouldn't have been hanging around with Damien. We need to get to her before they attack and get her home where she'll be safe _and_ away from that bloody boy."

"It's not his fault, Chris."

He frowned at her. "Are you _sure_ you're a demon?"

She blinked, surprised that he asked the question. "What do you mean?"

"Demons usually don't give a damn what happens to anybody else, much less worry about and defend a kid who they don't even know," Chris replied, staring at her with a lifted eyebrow.

"I may be a demon," Daphne replied with a soft sneer, "but I was raised by a Seer who—"

When she stopped suddenly, Chris said, "Who what?"

Daphne looked at him, slightly irritated. "We don't have time for this," she stated, crossing her arms and mirroring his stance. "Think you can keep up, Orb-boy?"

With that, she shimmered out of the restaurant, grinning mischeviously. Chris jumped back, looking around quickly to make sure no one had seen her. When he didn't see anyone looking surprised, dazed or confused, he quickly slipped out of the back door and orbed after her, cursing.

He reappeared in the back of a dark theater, illuminated only by the light from the large screen on which a young girl was running through the woods, trying to escape the clutches of the mad kidnapper who was armed with a gun and a bow and arrows. Chris scoffed. A gun… _and_ a bow and arrows? What was wrong with story-writers these days?

He spotted Daphne as she quietly walked down the aisles between the three rows of seats, trying to spot Cathryn and Damien. Chris shook his head at her slightly and took up the aisle that she wasn't walking down, also trying to find the young couple. After several moments of pacing and re-pacing, they both met at the back again.

"I didn't see her, did you?" Daphne asked him.

Chris shook his head. "Let's go check the other theatres also."

Ten minutes later, after checking the entire place, Chris orbed into the room that Daphne had been checking, his heart pounding slightly with anxiety. "Did you find her?"

Daphne shook her head. "You don't think…"

"God!" Chris slapped his forehead. "I don't know why I didn't do it before—I can just try to sense where she is!"

Daphne grinned slightly. "The true idiot shines through," she muttered. Chris ignored her and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath…

He opened his eyes again, blinking.

"What? You can't sense her?"

"No—I mean, yes, I can," Chris confirmed in a low voice. "She's at home."

"Oh, thank God," Daphne sighed.

"Hmm… I don't think she ever left," Chris replied, also feeling the relief sweep over him. She was at home… calm and rested. That would mean that she's also probably safe. Suddenly, he frowned. No… she wasn't calm and she wasn't safe— "We gotta go!"

Seconds later, they both reappeared in Cathryn's bedroom. "Duck!" Chris yelled, pulling Daphne down with him as he crouched to the floor. A fireball rushed over his head and hit the mirror on the far wall. There was a scream, then another fireball went crashing into the bed, sending a clean hole through it.

"Cathryn!" Chris yelled, jumping towards his cousin as she scrambled out from underneath the bed, trying to run towards the connected bathroom. He jumped up and sent an energy ball towards the demon standing next to the windows. The demon ducked out of the way and raised his hand, ready to strike at Cathryn again when Daphne cried out.

"Stop!"

The demon turned to her, eyes wide. "Daphne? What are you—"

Before he finished the sentence, a fireball and an energy ball hit him at the same time, sending his body into a burst of flames and blue electricity. He screamed in pain, curling into himself, then vanished leaving nothing but ashes and gray smoke behind. Chris stared at the ashes, panting, then turned around and ran into the bathroom. "Cathryn?"

"Chris!" Cathryn gasped from where she had fallen next to the sink. "Oh, my God, good thing you came!"

"She's bleeding," Daphne gasped, walking in behind him.

Cathryn looked down at her leg where a large gash was spouting out blood. Her eyes widened. "Oh, my God, I am!"

"It's okay," Chris replied firmly, dropping down on his knees next to her. "I've got it." He let his hands hover over the cut, focusing on the wound. Soon, they began to glow and the blood began to fade until her leg was restored to its normal self.

Cathryn sighed. "T-Thank you," she stuttered, gulping. "Thank you _so_ much! If you hadn't come—"

Chris grinned at her. "Hey, no problem, cuz." He stood up and gave her his hand, helping her to her feet also. She grinned back, pulling her disheveled hair off her face.

"Good thing you were looking out for me," Cathryn told him. Then she narrowed her eyes, still smiling slightly. "Why _were_ you looking out for me, by the way? You can only sense if I'm in danger if you're trying to sense me in the first place."

"I was just trying to make sure you were okay," Chris shrugged.

Daphne cleared her throat loudly, glaring at him when he turned around. "And she helped," he added grudgingly.

Cathryn looked from Chris to Daphne, then shook her head. She walked forward, stretching her hand towards Daphne. "Hi, I'm Cathryn. Who are you?"

"I'm Daphne," she replied.

"O…kay," Cathryn nodded, still unsure of who she was. She turned to Chris questioningly.

"She's no one of concern," Chris waved off. He ignored Daphne's objection and continued, "Do you have any idea who that demon was, by any chance?"

"No," Cathryn replied, shrugging. "I was just reading a book since _Damien_ didn't show up—"

"He didn't?" Chris interrupted. He looked at Daphne, frowning, then turned back to Cathryn. "Why not?"

"He stood me up, Chris," Cathryn scoffed. "There is no 'why not' to it!"

Chris turned back to Daphne who slowly shook her head at him. Cathryn looked from Chris to Daphne, confused. "What's going on here?"

"Why don't we go downstairs?" Daphne suggested with a large smile on her face. "Cathryn, would you mind supplying us with a bit of coffee? I think we all need it after that demon-attack."

Cathryn shrugged, still suspicious but deciding to let it slide. "Sure, why not?" She walked out of the bathroom, wincing at the new state of her room, then walked out of the door, deciding that she'll deal with it later. Daphne turned to Chris as they followed her, dropping her voice to a minimum. "I have a bad feeling about this, Chris. First, an a guy doesn't show up for his date and a demon shows up at the girl's trying to kill her?"

He nodded. "I know what you mean."

"How much do you want to bet that they already got him?"

Chris stopped at the door—which also had a sizely hole in it—and turned to her, feeling like punching something… "I can bet a _lot_ on that," he replied honestly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them again, shaking his head slightly. "I can't sense him anywhere. We need to find him."

Daphne shook her head. "If they already have him, he's far beyond our reach, I can tell you _that_. We need to make sure Cathryn is safe first."

Chris sighed and turned to look at the disasterous bedroom. The pieces from the mirror now lay on the ground, showing him a thousand little reflections of them in the pieces. He looked at the fallen lamp that had shattered and now had a bit of blood glistening on the shade—Cathryn's blood—and the bed that was still smoking at the hole in the hole off to the side of the mattress form the fireball the demon had thrown. Suddenly, he frowned. "Look at that hole."

Daphne turned to the bed. "I'm looking," she replied uncertainly. "But I don't see anything…"

"Cathryn was on the opposite side of that hole underneath that bed—as far away as she could be from it, in fact."

"So?" Daphne asked him.

"So…" Chris replied, walking over to the bed slowly. He leaned down, looking through the hole and saw the black scorch-mark on the wood below, then looked at the other end of the bed, several feet away. "Why would he aim here when she was over there?"

"He has bad eyes, what are you saying?"

Chris shook his head, standing up again. "No…" he told her in a low voice. He looked at her, feeling his heart pound slightly. His eyes wandered to the mirror again. He walked past her, staring at the mirror, then turned around to look at the windows, the spot where the demon had been standing. Then, he turned to the door, narrowed eyes on the hole in the wood. "This guy was either blind—and I'm doubting your father would send a blind demon after Cathryn—or he… was not even aiming for her."

Daphne watched him as he looked around the room, lost in his own thoughts. "Chris, I have no idea what you're saying. What do you mean he wasn't aiming for her?"

Chris turned to her suddenly. "His mission wasn't to _kill_ her, it was to _capture_ her and scare the living hell out of her in the process. If he indeed has been sent by your father, he doesn't want her dead."

"Wha--?" Daphne bit her lip. "Why would he want to just capture her?"

Suddenly, there was a crash from downstairs. Chris whirled around, staring at the door, horrified.

Cathryn ducked the demon's kick and rolled across the kitchen floor, standing up next to the counter which had a boiling pot of water in the coffee-maker. She pulled out it, wincing as a bit splashed onto her hand and threw all of the water directly into the ugly demon's face.

The demon screamed, clawing at her own face with long, brown nails that reminded her of a bird's feet. Cathryn grabbed the opportunity to run from the kitchen. She tried to turn on the lights as she passed the switch but after failing to do anything but hit her foot into the sofa, she cried out and stumbled ahead, deciding that the lights weren't worth her life. As she covered behind the couch, though, she realized that it probably would've been a better idea to turn on the lights in case the demon decided to shimmer right in behind her—

With a peircing scream, she grabbed the hand that had suddenly dropped onto her shoulder from behind and whirled the person around, sending the crashing to the ground on their bottom.

And then she realized that it had just been Daphne.

"Oh, no! What have I done? Daphne?" She leaned down next to her as she moaned at the immense pain now shooting through her head which she had hit on the couch.

There was a sudden commosion from behind. Cathryn whirled around and ran back towards the kitchen. Before she got there, though, an energy ball flew out from the entrance and hit a painting hanging on the wall all the way across the room. She gasped and flattened herself against the wall, listening to more grunting and growling coming from the kitchen. A second later, Chris came flying out and hit the wall where the painting had once been hanging, then fell on top of the desk directly below and broke it cleanly in two. Cathryn took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen, ready to use all her knowledge of martial arts that she had been learning from her mother since she had been seven.

"Who are you and what do you want?" She demanded the she-demon who had her back turned to her, facing the refrigerator.

As she turned around, Cathryn watched her entire appearance change within seconds—her nasty gray dreadlocks turned to shoulder-length brown hair, her narrow and scarred face took on a far more pleasant appearance, turning round and soft with twinkling brown eyes and a small nose, and she visibly grew much shorter, shrinking from her original 6'4" to Cathryn's height of 5'5". Before she knew it, Cathryn was looking at a replica of herself down to the last faded freckle on her nose.

"I want you," the demon whispered, sounding eerily like Catherine herself. Then, she raised her hand and gave her wrist a slight flick.

Suddenly, an energy ball came firing out of nowhere, engulfing her in a ball of electricity. She looked around herself, her mind in a complete haze as she tired to figure out what happened. Then, seconds later, she disappeared from the kitchen.

_But _I_'m Cathryn… Chris… Daphne…_

Daphne ran into the room, panting. She spotted Cathryn next to the fridge and sighed, leaning over the island at the center of the kitchen as she tried to gather her breath. "Are you all right?"

She nodded back, staring at the spot where the demon had been standing before Daphne knocked her out. "I'm fine," she replied. Then, she turned around, looking at the mirror next to the door leading into the dining room. The face of a fifteen-year old girl stared back at her. With a sneer, she said, "I'm perfectly fine."


	5. Chapter 3 Part I

_**NOTE TO MY READERS… I LIKE MY CLICHES ;D**_

_**Chapter 3**_

"Daphne, I'm fine."

Daphne stared at Chris for a moment, then sighed, stepping away from him. "If you want to be a log-head, go ahead, Chris. I was just trying to help."

Chris carefully got up from the remains of the table he had crashed into, wincing as he felt a shard of wood twitch in his leg. He looked down with disgust, reached for the wood and tugged it out of his flesh with a single jerk. He clenched his teeth together, suppressing a groan… _Damn, that hurt!_

He looked up at Daphne, panting slightly. "_Thank you_," he said without even trying to sound as though he meant it. "And I'm _not_ acting like a log-head."

He limped toward the couch where Cathryn was now sitting, staring at him blankly. Daphne watched him go, knowing that he needed help but not bothering to offer. If he wanted to suffer, then let him… she didn't give a damn.

"Hey, kiddo. You all right?" Chris sighed, falling into the couch.

Cathryn nodded, hugging a pillow to her chest.

"What's the matter?" Chris asked her, leaning towards her out of concern.

Cathryn just smiled back. "I'm fine, Chris. Really."

He nodded, then winced again as his leg gave a nasty throb.

"I'm calling for Wyatt—" Daphne began.

"Why?" Chris interrupted, turning around to look at her.

Daphne smiled sweetly. "Fine, Chris. If you don't want any help with that leg—if you want the wound to get infected with eighteen different types of deadly pathogens and ooze goop until they'll have to remove the entire limb from your body, I don't care. But Cathryn needs help and I know that white-lighters can heal wounds, so I'm calling him. _Wyatt_?"

The next second, five figures emerged from a shower of blue and white orbs at the center of the living room. Immediately, a commosion burst out. Daphne, overwhelmed by the sudden outburst, could do nothing but stare in amazement at how much noise five people could make when thrown into a situation such as this one.

Finally, it was Chris who yelled the entire room to attention. "Quiet!"

The room fell silent for less than a second before Piper sternly said, "Don't you use that tone with me, young man!"

"Oh, my God! Cathryn, honey, are you all right?" Coop and Phoebe rushed to their daughter who was looking very much startled at the outburst of emotions. Phoebe took her face in her hands and smoothed down her hair. "What happened? Oh, baby!"

"Did that _boy_ do this to you?" Wyatt roared in outrage, taking a few menacing steps forward.

"B-Boy? What boy?" Cathryn stuttered, looking from one family member to the next.

"I'm going to find him, Cathryn," Coop reassured his daughter, stepping away from the rest of the group into a secluded corner, preparing himself for take-off. He fingered the pearly-ring on his finger. "I'll find him—don't worry."

"I'm coming with you," Wyatt stated, walking over to him, looking quite murderous.

"Hold it!" Leo stopped them. "You're not going anywhere without me—"

"Guys, guys!" Chris yelled out yet again for attention. "It wasn't Damien!"

All three of them turned to him in unison. "Then who the hell was it?" Coop demanded.

"It was some demon," Daphne told them. "I think it was a female, but I'm not sure. I didn't see her."

"Cathryn, did you see her?" Piper asked the young girl, sitting down next to her and gently laying a hand on her shoulder. Cathryn twitched slightly, then looked at Piper and then Phoebe.

Slowly, she shook her head. "Barely. She was really fast—all I know is that she was a girl and she was really tall."

"Oh, sweetie," Phoebe sighed, hugging her daughter to her. She kissed her on the top of her head and smoothed down her hair. "Why don't you go upstairs and go to sleep while we figure this out?"

"She can't," Chris told her. "Her bedroom's… unavailable."

"What? Why?" Phoebe asked him.

"Another demon attacked her there," Daphne told her, sitting down in the single-person settee across from her. "It's a mess," she finished, slightly wincing at the shocked look on all of their faces.

"_Another_ demon?" Coop scoffed, very much angry at her by now. "How many demons attacked before you decided to call us?"

"Uncle Coop, it's not her fault," Chris sighed. "We were way too busy fighting them off."

Daphne didn't turn to him, knowing that if she showed any signs of thanks, he would just roll his eyes and turn away. Ugh… male ego. It was disgusting!

"Okay, you know what—you don't need to hear anymore of this," Phoebe stated, turning back to Cathryn. "I want you to go sleep in Jennyfer's room, okay? Good thing we kept the bed there."

Cathryn nodded, then looked around the room again before slowly getting to her feet and making her way out of the room and up the stairs. They all waited to make sure that she had enough time to go all the way to the bedroom where she was out of hearing-distance, sharing significant looks with each other.

Suddenly, Piper gasped. "Chris, you're bleeding!"

Chris looked down at his leg. "Oh, yeah… thanks for noticing!"

"Here," Leo sighed, walking over to his son. He placed his hands over the wound down the side of his legs and let his magic do the work as Piper watched over them anxiously.

"I still say it's that idiot's fault," Wyatt muttered.

"Actually," Daphne began, turning to look at Chris before continuing, "I don't think Damien will be doing much of anything for a while. He was just another victim of this, just like Cathryn… and I think they may already have him."

"What?" Phoebe gasped, sliding into place next to Piper. "You mean—"

Daphne nodded. "The demons were after them both because they've been trespassing through the underworld. Cathryn said Damien didn't show up for their date this evening and Chris couldn't sense him anywhere—it can only mean one thing."

"Oh, my God," Piper sighed, placing her head in her hands. "This is a mess."

"Is that where you guys disappeared off to?" Wyatt asked them. "To get to Cathryn?"

Chris nodded.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us?" Piper asked him, turning slightly to slap him on the shoulder. "We could've helped you and figured out what was going on!"

"It was an on-spot decision," Chris confessed. "We wanted to make sure Cathryn was safe."

"Well, it's not too late now," Piper replied. "Leo, go to the Elders and ask them—mmm.. you know, the usual," she simplified, tired of asking him to do the same thing over and over for the past thirty-plus years. Leo nodded, grinning, then took off. "Okay, Coop, we need you to take Phoebe, Cathryn and me to the mansion—that's the only place she will be completely safe at. Wyatt, Chris, I want you to go and try to find Damien."

"I'll go too," Daphne offered.

"No way," Piper replied, firmly shaking her head.

"But I—"

"It's not safe for you in the Underworld, Daphne," Wyatt pointed out. "We don't want you to get caught—that would only create more problems for us."

"But where will I go, then?" Daphne asked, standing up. "What am _I_ supposed to do?"

"Come with us to the manor," Piper told her. "You will be safe there too while the boys go do their thing."

"Piper—"

"No more!" Piper cut her off. "We've got lots to do and little time to do it." Suddenly, she put up her hands and flicked her wrists, freezing both Coop and Daphne in their positions.

"What did you do that for?" Phoebe frowned, looking at her husband. "Did I ever tell you how much Coop disliked your freezing time?"

Piper smiled at her sarcastically. "Phoebe, hon, remember the last time one of your husbands didn't like us sisters using our powers in his vicinity?"

Phoebe blinked. "What are you saying?"

"I'm just saying that it never works out well!" Then, with another flick of her wrist, she unfroze Coop.

"So, shall we go?" He asked, slapping his hands together. Then, he turned to Daphne and frowned. "Oh, Piper… you didn't!"

"Yes, I did!"

"Now, the question is—why?" Chris asked her.

Piper hesitated, looking at Daphne, then motioned for her family to follow her into the kitchen. After they all filed into the kitchen, sharing suspicious looks, she turned to them and sighed. "Okay—I don't trust her."

"Mom," Wyatt began with a sigh of his own.

"No, you listen to me! How many demons or dark-lighters do you know that try to help out witches and white-lighters?" She asked him.

Wyatt looked at Chris, then said, "None."

"Exactly. Don't any of you find it a little suspicious that she's so willing to help us out? That she's acting like a perfect little witch—in the _good_ sense? That the Seer specifically sent us to _our_ household, the _Charmed_ household and she jumps into action, saving people's butts and being all goody-good and trying to help out with our troubles and all?"

"Maybe she's just trying to help out—do what the Seer sent her here to do," Phoebe suggested. "Maybe, she's just trying to be good?"

"Phoebe, she's a hybrid demon-dark-lighter," Piper replied, putting her hand on her hip. "What's the guarantee that this isn't all just a plan? A trap?"

"So what do you want us to do?" Coop asked her.

"We're going to take her back to the manor with us. That's the one place that not only will _she_ be safe at, but we will also be safe from her."

Everybody nodded slowly but Piper frowned at Chris who hadn't even been looking at her the entire time. "Chris?"

He looked up suddenly, dazed. "Huh?"

"Have you even been listening?"

"Yeah, of course," Chris replied, nodding. "Sure."

"O… kay," Piper frowned. "All right—everybody back in positions, then. Pretend like nothing happened!"

They all filed back into the living room and resumed their former positions. Piper flicked her wrists again and Daphne immediately came back to life. However, she stumbled slightly, eyes on the ground, then looked at them all.

"Shall we go?" Coop smiled widely, turning to Phoebe and Piper.

"Good idea!" Phoebe nodded, walking over to his side with Piper right behind her. She leaned around her husband and smiled at Daphne. "Coming?"

Daphne smiled back and nodded. "Sure."

She walked over to their side and held onto Phoebe's hand. A second before they disappeared though—Daphne shimmering out and the rest of them glowing out via Coop's ring—she turned to look at Chris.

Chris stared at the spot where she had been standing seconds ago, arms cross and deep in thought. Wyatt turned to him. "And shall _we_ go?"

Chris straightened very slowly, then turned to look at his brother. "Mom's wrong."

"What?"

"I just know it, Wyatt. Mom's wrong," Chris repeated. "Daphne isn't part of any plan or trap. She's not trying to get us—"

Wyatt sighed, slipping his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "How do you know?"

Chris shrugged. "I just do. Mom's wrong…"

Wyatt nodded slowly, realizing that his brother was dead-serious and dead-sure.

"And… I know where to find Damien," Chris finished.


	6. Chapter 3 Part II

(0) 

"This is ridiculous, Chris. How could you possibly know that Damien is down here?"

"Do you _have _to keep asking that?" Chris snapped, quite irritated with his brother who had repeated the same question atleast five times in the last five minutes. He walked away from him, carefully peering around the columns of rock surrounding them in the little clearing in the Underworld.

"Well, yes! We are, after all, in _demon_-world and I want to make sure that there's sufficient reason for us to be down here," Wyatt replied as if that was obvious enough.

"I never thought you were a coward, Wyatt," Chris replied with a slight grin.

"I'm not a _coward_, Chris. What I am is _sensible_," Wyatt corrected him carefully. "And I just think that it doesn't make sense that you are suddenly getting these 'weird vibes' on where our innocents are. Your gift is _not_ one of premonition."

"That's true because I actually don't even have a gift at all!" Chris replied cynically. "Somehow, I got the dominant magic-gene from Dad and all _I_ can do is orb and heal! While _you_ get the witch-powers form Mom _and_ the white-lighter powers from Dad."

Wyatt grinned. "I did get the better end of the deal, didn't I?"

Chris glared at him before setting off through the Underworld, grabbing at blind threads of 'vibes' and desperately hoping that they would lead him to Damien.

"But that's my point, Chris. You aren't supposed to 'know' where our innocents are—"

"Then I must be sensing him somehow," Chris cried out, throwing up his arms in frustration.

"If you were sensing him, then you would know his _exact_ location. You wouldn't be wandering through the Underworld aimlessly—"

"Okay, you know what!" Chris fired up, pissed off at his brother now. He turned around and glared at him. "I've had it with your whining. I got a vibe and I went for it and if you forgot already, vibes are usually quite helpful in our world, the magical world. So, I'm going to go with this vibe and try to find our innocent. If you have a better idea, you can go find your own damn innocent and save him. By all means, _please_ get the load off my head!"

Wyatt examined Chris for a while, crossing his arms before him, then said, "You get really moody while demon-hunting now-a-days, don't you?"

Chris closed his eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again. "I don't know what you're talking about." He turned around and continued walking.

"Actually, you've been getting moody only for the past week… and _especially_ moody since we've met Daphne."

"Do ya' blame me?" Chris asked him. "She's a pain in the a—" He cleared his throat. "Neck."

"And yet you trust her?" Wyatt asked with a slightly triumphant look coming over his face.

"Yes," Chris replied firmly. "I do. Don't you?"

Wyatt thought only for a second before saying, "Oddly enough, I do too. But _you_…I wonder if you and Daph—aargh!"

Wyatt grabbed Chris by the arm and dragged him backwards, away from the demon that had just appeared before them. A second later, a fireball went zooming through the air where Chris's stomach had just been. Within the next second, Wyatt had conjured a shimmering blue shield around them and threw an energy ball towards the demon from within.

The ball broke through the shield and flew through the air… only to hit the wall of rock across from them, showering the empty air with sparks.

"Where did he go?" Chris asked.

Wyatt let the shield down and froze, his ears strained against the pin-drop silence around them. "We need to get out of here."

"No," Chris replied. "Not before we get Damien."

"Fine. You bait, I hide."

He stepped away from his brother, positioning himself directly at the center of the clearing. He was used to playing bait by now—he learned that it was the best way to draw out the demons.

"What's the matter, you sniveling piece of shit?" He called out towards the ceiling. "Got scared, you coward?"

"Hold the insults, will ya?" Wyatt hissed towards him from behind the column he was using to hide. "Don't forget that we're on _their_ land now."

"Think you're safe 'cuz you're in the Underworld, you smudge of pig-guts?" Chris scoffed loudly. "Come out, you son of a bitch, before I—"

"Before you what?"

"Oh… shit."

Chris's mouth dropped open as he looked around himself. At least twenty demons had now gathered in a circle with him at the center, sneering at him. "Before you do what?" The demon who had tried to attack them before asked again. "Before you go cryin' to yer mommy?"

The next instant, he disappeared in a blast of sparks and demon-guts with a cry of pure pain. Chris smiled, his heart filling with unfathomable satisfaction, then orbed out of the circle before seven demons around him aimed fireballs at him. Quite pleasingly, the fireballs flew through the empty air and hit the members of the circle directly across from the demons, who died with a cry of pain very similar to the first.

"Hey, pig-faces!" Wyatt called out, jumping into the opening across the cave from Chris. "Over here!"

The remaining demons turned to him with shocked looks on their faces. They lifted their hands, preparing to strike, when a shimmery blue shield went up around Wyatt. All their fireballs reflected off his shield and went zipping through the cave like balloons, extinguishing only when they hit the cave-walls. Chris ducked to the floor immediately, dodging one of the stray fireballs. "Wyatt!"

"Oh, sorry," he heard his brother call out. Immediately, a shield went up around him also. It was several seconds later, after he heard many more cries of pain from unfortunate demons who got caught by the fireballs, Chris looked up to see only four demons standing back-to-back at the center of the clearing, looking dazed and furious. Wyatt sent a zap of energy from his hand, cleanly hitting the demon who had been nearest to him. The demons scattered immediately, only to be caught by one energy ball that was sent towards them by Wyatt and one from Chris. The last demon blinked several times, horrified as his pals burst into flames, then prepared to shimmer out.

"No!" Chris cried out. He snapped his wrist quickly, intercepting the demon's shimmer with his summoning-orbs. The demon landed on the ground with a grunt. Wyatt lifted his arm, ready to aim an energy-ball at him but Chris intercepted that too, summoning it to his own hand. He got up from the ground slowly and walked towards the demon who was cowering on the ground.

"You even _think_ about shimmering and I swear you'll be meeting your demon-pals again far more early than you might've wished," Chris warned him as Wyatt let his shield down. He crouched down next to him, still holding the energy-ball in his hand, and said, "Who sent you?"

"I won't tell you," the demon snarled back, his lip curling into an ugly sneer.

Chris sighed, extremely irritated with this whole ordeal now, and dropped the energy-ball. It hit the demon in the arm, burning his flesh clean-through. The demon cried out, grabbing at his wound and by the time he had looked up again, Chris had another energy-ball in his hand, this one shimmering even brighter than the last one. "Who sent you?" He asked again, more forcefully.

"I don't know!" The demon replied, gritting his teeth against the pain. Chris drew back his hand but before he could throw the energy-ball, the demon quickly amended his words. "Wait! Listen to me! I was just following my boss's orders. He was told to attack you two, but not to kill you."

Chris looked up at Wyatt who looked as evenly perplexed as he felt. "Why not?" Wyatt asked the demon.

"B-Because… he was supposed to _trap _you down here and wait for 'them'."

"Them." Chris repeated. "Who's 'them'?"

"That I don't know," the demon replied. "No one knew that other than my boss."

Chris rose to his feet again. "And you don't know who he was working for?"

The demon shook his head, trying to edge away from him slightly as he held onto his bleeding arm. "All I know is that my boss was overheard talking to someone about 'finally turning his daughter back to evil'."

Chris couldn't help the energy-ball that practically seemed to jump out of his hand at that second. The demon disappeared the next second, leaving him to stare at the burn-mark on the ground where he had been lying. His mind was suddenly reeling and a high-pitched ringing was filling his ears.

"It's a trap," Wyatt whispered. "They're going after Daphne…"

"Unless…" Chris replied shaking his head slowly. "Mom did say… and she's…"

"Chris, what the hell are you talking about?" Wyatt demanded. "We need to go back right now!"

"Why?"

Both brothers had energy-balls in their hands when they whirled around at the sudden voice behind them, but Daphne, who always had been somewhat sensible, ducked behind a column of rock before she got blasted into smithereens. "Don't hurt me."

"No, we'll just _kill_ you!" Chris roared back, fisting his hand and extinguishing the energy ball. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, _I_'m a demon-dark-lighter," Daphne pointed out with a grin, coming out into the open again. She leaned against the column and crossed her arms. "You'd think the question would make more sense if asked about _you_ two rather than me."

"How'd you get here?" Wyatt demanded, stepping towards her.

Daphne frowned at him. "I-I managed to convince your mom that I'd be more of a help down here than up there with them."

Chris and Wyatt both looked at each other.

"What? I'm a good diplomat!" Daphne snapped. "Is that so hard to believe?"

Wyatt and Chris shared an even darker look before turning back to her again. It was the way that they looked at her that warned Daphne that she had taken things a little too far. She straightened, the grin sliding off her face.

"Chris, you keep her down here. I'll go check up on Mom—"

"I didn't hurt her," Daphne was quick to point out, stepping towards Wyatt defensively. Chris immediately conjured an energy-ball, stepping forward himself. Daphne turned to him, horrified. "What's going on here?"

Wyatt looked at Chris one last time before orbing out in a swirl of blue and silver lights. Daphne stared at the space where he had been, then turned to Chris who was still looking at her menacingly. Daphne placed a hand on her forehead and sighed. "I can't believe this."

"Can't you?" Chris asked. "What did you say to my mom to convince her to let you down here?"

"I just told her that I knew the Underworld better than you two did—"

"Uh-huh," Chris replied sarcastically. "We've been down here several times before, you know."

"And I _grew up_ here," Daphne replied. "I _think_ I'd know my father's territories a little better than someone who just came down here for a couple of demon-killing sprees. Besides, if I'd done something to your family—"

Chris aimed the energy ball just a foot away from her. It hit the wall. Daphne stared at it for a second, then turned back to him, her hands fisted at her sides. "Don't you think I'd have escaped by now?" She continued in a dangerously low voice. "Why would I come _seek_ you out?"

"Don't ask me to explain how a demon's mind works," Chris replied cruelly.

"I just came to help, damn it! I know you trusted me, Chris! What the hell's the matter with you now?"

"Shut up," Chris replied. "If you want to help so much, tell me where Damien is.

"I don't know where Damien is—"

"That's what I thought," Chris sighed.

"—_exactly_ but I can tell you that he is going to be in my father's pit."

Chris stared at her, wondering mildly if she actually thought he was stupid. "Oh, my God," he groaned, running his fingers through his hair. "We're going home right now." He stepped forward to take her arm, fully ready to orb straight back to the manor, but he felt a hard, shield-like surface hit him on the head and came crashing to the ground again, his head throbbing.

"Ow! What the hell was that?" Daphne groaned, clutching at her own head.

Chris pressed the palm of his hand into his eyes, gritting his teeth. He slowly raised to his feet, fighting for control and opened up his palm at his side.

Daphne's eyes widened on the huge sparks of energy cackling in the palm of his hand, then at the murderous look in his eyes. "You tell me," he growled.


	7. Chapter 4 Part I

_**Chapter 4**_

"I don't know what the matter is, I'm telling you!" Daphne sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time, sitting on the floor with her legs crossed and her elbows rested on her knees.

"Don't lie to me!" Chris shouted, then checked his voice immediately. The last thing he wanted to do now was attract more demons, especially because he couldn't orb out of this damn place. He took a deep breath and took up to pacing in front of her. "I can do this forever, Daphne."

"Well, I guess you'll be doing it forever then, because I _swear_ I don't know why you can't orb out!" Daphne replied, at her wit's end. "Look, if I had _planned_ this, then I probably would have planned it in such a way that _I_, at least, would be able to shimmer out. But look—"

Before she could so much as conjure up the energy to try to shimmer, a bolt of energy shot out of Chris's hand, hitting the ground just three inches away from her right knee. She froze, her mouth dropped open.

"Don't even try it!" Chris told her sharply. "Wyatt!"

There was absolutely no reply. "Dad!" He called out more loudly. "Damn it!"

Daphne sighed, dropping her head into her hands.

Chris stared at her for a second, wishing he could just kill her then and there. How _dare_ she feel frustrated right now? He closed his eyes and tried to sense Wyatt, his mom, his dad or any of his other relatives. However, it was _completely_ pointless to try. Trying to sense someone all the way down from the Underworld was hard enough to begin with and Chris was sure that this bloody _shield_, whatever it was, was now blocking even the tiny chance of hope that might have existed originally.

"You," he snapped, suddenly opening his eyes. Daphne looked up. "Come with me."

She jumped to her feet and followed him out of the cave. "Where are we going?"

"Shut up."

"Chris! I had nothing to do with this. How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Shut up!"

"God, you pig-head," she mumbled crossly under her breath.

Chris whirled around. "Unless you want to die right this instant, I would suggest you to _shut up_!"

Daphne clamped her teeth shut, her eyes glimmering with pure hatred. Chris turned away from her and walked on through the dark passage-ways leading from cave to cave. Daphne watched him for a few seconds, taking deep breaths, then shook her head. _Stupid girl, what did you think? That they'd be ecstatic to see you and overlook the fact that their mom hates your guts and would never let you down here by yourself? Idiot!_

"Keep up!" Chris called out over his shoulder. Daphne ran forward until she caught up with him, then slowed her pace again. Did she _really_ blame him for being so angry at her?

Chris stopped suddenly at a fork in the passageway. He turned halfway towards her and said, "Which way?"

"Uh—" Daphne blanched, looking around herself. It had been _years_ since she had been down here… oh, God, she didn't even think before… what if her father had took over some other area of the Underworld and was now living there? What if he had moved up in the demon-ranks or dropped down or had been pushed into some other area… Fuck! Where the hell was she?

"Well?"

"Go to the right."

"Right," Chris replied. He turned left.

"Bu—" Daphne shut her mouth immediately and decided to just follow him. At least this way, she could blame it on him for not trusting her if they didn't end up at her father's…

_Her father…_

_BLOCK THEM OUT!_

She gasped, stumbling backwards slightly as a sharp pain shot through her skull. Little white light seemed to pop up in front of her eyes. _BLOCK THEM OUT!... BLOCK THEM… DON'T LET THEM IN!_

"Aah!" She fell against the hard wall, pressing her fingers against her temples. "C-Chris!"

_YOU CAN'T LET THEM IN! THEY'RE TOO VULNERABLE! YOU MUST MAKE THEM WAIT!_

"What the hell?" Chris gasped beside her. "Daphne, what's going on?"

"They can't come here," she groaned, sliding to the ground. "They can't—"

"Who can't come here? Daphne! Damn it, that hurts!"

_THEY'LL DIE! THEY MUST STAY OUT! YOU MUST KEEP THEM OUT!_

"I must… They'll…"

"Daphne!"

Suddenly, the pain died away, leaving Daphne winded on the ground of the passageway, frozen with shock and fear. Her eyes burst open and a cold rush of air swept through her body, making her gasp. When she felt his hand on her shoulder, she jumped back as though scalded by his touch.

"Daphne, what was that?"

She looked up, squinting in the darkness, to see Chris hovering over her, his eyes confused and concerned. She gulped, her throat suddenly dry. "W-What was what?"

"First you fall to the ground, holding your head as if it would explode, then i feel _my_ head exploding and you just ask me 'what was what'?"

Daphne stared at him. "You felt that too? Did you hear the voice also?",

"Voice?" Chris frowned. "What voice?"

"You didn't here it," Daphne whispered, then gulped again. Her throat was prickly and scratchy but she gave a small smile. "Great, I'm going crazy."

(0)

"What's the matter?"

Leo sighed. "I don't know. I can't get in."

"It's like we're blocked or something," Wyatt added.

"_Blocked_?" Phoebe repeated. "I'm sorry, _blocked_? What do you mean you're blocked!"

"There's some sort of a shield against us," Leo told her. "We can't get into the Underworld."

"That's ridiculous!" Piper replied. She turned to her son. "You and Chris orbed down there just half an hour ago!"

"Yeah," Wyatt replied. "But I can't orb there now! I don't know what's wrong."

"Coop," Phoebe turned to her husband. "You try."

Coop nodded and closed his eyes, touching the pearly surface of his ring. The next second, he disappeared in a pale pink-light, a small heart lingering at its center, then reappeared again, looking slightly dazed. He looked up at his family. "Nothing. I'm blocked out too."

"Ugh!" Phoebe threw up her hands and fell into a seat on the couch in the Halliwell attic.

"Wha—" Piper stuttered. "None of you can get in?"

All three men shook their head.

"But _Chris_ is down there! With Daphne!" Piper cried out.

"I still can't believe we let her go," Phoebe replied, rubbing her forehead. "How _stupid_ were we—"

"If you didn't trust her so much, why did you let her go?" Wyatt inquired.

"She convinced us," Piper told him, waving her hand around frustratedly. "That girl is _damn_ good at convincing!"

"That's what she told us," Wyatt replied quietly.

"Wait, you _saw_ her before you came up here?" Coop asked him.

"Yeah," Wyatt nodded. "She told us that she convinced you to let her help us and we found that _extremely_ unlikely—"

Piper and Phoebe both scoffed at the same time, embarrassed at their own mistake.

"—so I told Chris to keep an eye on her and I came up here to check on you guys, to make sure she didn't… _over_-convince."

"I think she would've if she got any chance to," Piper muttered.

"I doubt that," Wyatt replied. All four people in the room rounded on him, shocked that he was actually defending her. "Look, all I'm saying is if she wanted to kill Chris and me, she had _plenty_ of time to do so when we were both alone with her. But she _didn't_."

"She know that you two are very powerful," Piper waved off the argument.

"Yes, well, Chris is just as 'powerful' as I am and if it came down to it, he could vanquish her in a second," Wyatt pointed out. "And I'm pretty damn sure that she knows that also."

"She's not as vulnerable as you may think, though," Leo pointed out.

"I thought you were the one who said that she's not into her powers yet, so she'll be easier to handle."

"Well," Leo shrugged slightly, waving his hands through the air. "I-I might've said that. But who knows for sure?"

"_Either way_!" Wyatt continued on forcefully. "We _both_—individually also—are a pretty good match against her, even at her full powers. After all, that's why the Elders sent her to us, right?"

"What are you saying?" Leo asked him, his brow wrinkled.

"Maybe…" Wyatt said slowly, preparing him for an explosion, "Maybe she _isn't_ involved in this."

There was a short silence through the room before Piper gave a short, sarcastic 'ha'! "I knew this was going to happen, didn't I tell you this was going to happen?" She demanded, turning to Leo.

"What are you talking about?" Phoebe and Wyatt asked at the same time, one more exasperated than the other.

"I told you that she'd get to them. She's a _woman_, God damn it, and as if _that's_ not enough—"

"Mom!"

"No, you listen to me, Wyatt!" Piper snapped at him, pointing at him quite seriously. "I am _not_ losing my mind! Hell, I feel more sure about everything right now than I have for a long time and what I know for sure is that my son, your _brother_, is down in the Underworld with a demon-dark-lighter who is out to kill him—"

"Mom," Wyatt began.

Piper ignored his interruption, "So, you are going to the Elders _right now_ with your father and finding out what the hell they were thinking when they sent that bitch to us. Go!"

"Mom, just think about this for a minute," Wyatt said, approaching Piper slowly.

"Wyatt," Piper sighed, "Don't ask me to explain, just go!"

Once Wyatt and Leo had both left the room, Piper fell into the couch beside her sister and closed her eyes, absolutely exhausted.

"What was all that about?" Phoebe asked her softly.

"I'll explain later," Piper replied through her gritted teeth. "First, we need to find out where Paige is."

(0)


	8. Chapter 4 Part II

"Later?" Phoebe repeated. "Later when, when Chris shows up dead and Daphne escapes back to her father again? Piper, what the hell is going on?" 

Piper sighed. "You know that Daphne is a dark-lighter, right?"

Phoebe nodded slowly.

"Well…do you remember how dark-lighters get their 'victims'?"

"Yeah, with their poisoned arrows," Phoebe replied with a small shrug, unsure of where this was going.

"No, that's only after their 'victims' undergo the transformation to becoming a white-lighter—before that happens, dark-lighters seduce their victims onto the wrong path," Piper explained patiently. 

Phoebe's eyes widened slightly as she contemplated what Piper had just said. She turned slowly to look at her husband who shared an equally dreading look with her before turning back to Piper. "So… you're saying that D-Daphne might..." Phoebe shrugged, waving her hand through the air as though that would be enough of a clue as to what she truly wanted to say. Piper, damn her, just stared at her with a lifted eyebrow as though purposefully trying to get her to say it. She sighed. "You think that Daphne's going to seduce Chris?" 

Piper nodded briskly. "Yeah!"

"Wow!" Phoebe let out a sharp breath and leaned back in the chair. "And you think he might be pushed onto the wrong path?"

"No," Coop replied. "She'd have to be pretty damn-powerful to do that! Chris is way too far into the good path to just jump sides that quickly."

"That's true," Piper agreed. "But she might have enough power to convince him that she is not a threat to us or to the 'greater good' or whatever and that there itself will turn him against us."

"Okay, this is Chris we're talking about here!" Phoebe interrupted them. "Our Chris! The Chris who hated Daphne's guts since the moment she stepped into the same room as him! She's gonna have a tough sell trying to turn him against us—magic or no magic! I mean, he'd blow her ass all the way to Timbuktu if she even mentions the idea that we, his own family, is in the wrong to go against her, not her." 

"Let's hope you're right," Piper sighed.

"Let's hope I'm right? Piper! This is your son we're talking about here—show some faith!"

"I would show some faith if my other son hadn't just ignored all logic and defended that witch just moments ago," Piper replied calmly. "Granted, he gave some reason as to why he still trusted her to be good, but think about it, Phoebe! To begin with, she's a demon-dark-lighter raised by a Seer—the most deadliest combination that we could ever come across with this family! She comes into our house and we're supposed to 'protect' her and upon that pretense, at least fifty demons have attacked Chris and Wyatt in the past week! Just days after she appears, a demon tries to kill Cathryn—your own daughter—and her boyfriend turns out to be missing."

Phoebe stared at her sister, realizing exactly how horrible the situation had gotten behind her back. "But, honey, Chris is already a white-lighter and so is Wyatt. So Daphne's powers can't work on them, right?"

"I don't know—do _you_?" Piper replied. "She's not just a dark-lighter, she may have tons of more demon-powers that we don't even know about. But set _that_ aside—Paige is missing, Phoebe! And we've been too busy to go after her! Have you even thought about what kind of a danger she might have been in all this time?"

Phoebe just stared at her, realizing that she was right. Slowly, all the panic and the confusion she had felt initially when she had heard about Paige began to come back to her.

"When was the last time we just accepted the fact that our sister went missing and thought 'oh, she'll just show up eventually, nothing to worry about'?" Piper stared at Phoebe for a long moment, then sighed. "We need to start scrying."

"I'll get right on it," Phoebe replied immediately, jumping to her feet. 

It was five minutes later, when both Phoebe and Piper had twirled the crystal over the U.S. map for the nineteenth time and still hadn't found Paige's location, that Coop suddenly got up to his feet from the couch where he had been sitting and said, "You don't think Daphne played with your minds, do you?"

"What?" Phoebe sighed, slightly exasperated now.

"You were right, Piper," Coop said, ignoring his wife. "When was the last time you didn't go after a missing sister?"

Piper frowned. "Coop, what are you talking about?"

"Phoebe, remember the night that Leo told you that Paige was missing?" 

"Yeah?"

"He came to call and told us that Paige had suddenly gone missing but the Elders aren't worrying—_the Elders_ weren't worrying. When was the last time the Elders didn't worry about a lost Charmed Sister?" Coop began pacing the ground, now counting the points off on his fingers. "Then, he said that they were more preoccupied with a new charge—he could've only mean Daphne. That was around the time that she came to Magic School. You worried about Paige for five minutes tops before starting to worry about Daphne and what trouble she might bring to the family. _You_ suggested that Harry go in search for Paige because he knows her best."

"That was _the_ stupidest advice I have given in my life," Phoebe muttered under her breath.

"Exactly. And all of this happened once Daphne came into our lives."

Comprehension dawned over Piper's face. "That must be her demon power."

"What must be her demon power?" Phoebe frowned.

"No wonder… we weren't _preoccupied_, she _made_ us too busy to go after our sister!"

Phoebe looked from Piper to Coop, then back to Piper. "No!" She gasped, suddenly understanding what they were talking about. "You think she can…? Oh, my God."

"We need to tell the Elders—Leo!"

"No need," Coop interrupted her. "I'll go to the Magic School and tell them. You keep scrying for Paige. If Daphne did what we think she did, then we'll need Paige back and soon!"

(0) 

Chris let his head fall back against the hard wall of the fifteenth empty cave they came across since the _incident_. It was almost as though he was trying to recreate that headache he had felt more than two hours ago. Damn it, but he wanted to know what the hell had happened… He looked across the cave towards Daphne who had curled up in the opposite corner. Her hands were slowly rubbing up and down her arms, almost absent-mindedly, as she stared at the ground with utmost concentration as though trying to remember a long-lost memory from her childhood.

"You all right?"

She looked up at him as though just realizing that he was also there with her in the cave. She blinked once, then twice before nodding. "Yeah. You?"

Chris had half the mind to shake his head and demand that she give him an explanation right now but he could see that she was far beyond explanations. So, he just shrugged and sighed. "Guess I should've turned right, huh?"

"I told you to trust me," Daphne replied with a sarcastic smile.

"Yeah," Chris nodded. "That's why I turned left."

Daphne sighed. "Chris, I _swear_ I didn't know anything about this, why won't you believe me?"

Chris stared at her hard for a long moment, then shook his head. "I'll believe you… if you tell me what happened back there."

"I told you," she said almost tiredly. "I heard a voice—a really loud voice in my mind—and I got this huge headache."

"What did the voice say?"

"I can't even remember anymore," Daphne admitted honestly. "But it sounded very urgent and almost scared… It _was_ familiar in an odd way." She took a deep breath, going back to that feeling… Could it have been him?

"Daphne…?"

"I think it was my father," she blurted out suddenly, then blushed, realizing how stupid she must've sounded.

"Your father?" Chris asked her. Suddenly, his eyes filled with concern. "Daph, try to remember what he said."

"I can't," Daphne replied calmly. "You don't think I've tried already?"

"But, Daphne, if he's after you—" Chris broke off, not knowing what exactly it was that he wanted to say. Daphne blinked up at him, a new expression forming in her clear blue eyes.

"So you finally believe me?" She asked with a smile.

"What?"

"You finally believe that _I_ wasn't the one who tried to trap you down here?"

Chris took a deep breath, feeling like cursing, then let it out sharply. "I-It… always was… a possibility," he replied. And that was the truth. Even though Chris's initial thought upon hearing about the demons' boss talking about turning 'daughter back to evil' had been that Daphne was evil to begin with, he had to admit that a pretty big part of him had been nudging the way that Wyatt had gone… thinking that perhaps her father had been after her. And now, that was all he could believe.

"Chris, I have to tell you now—" Daphne sighed. She dropped her legs into a crossed-position again—something she did very often when she was frustrated, he realized with a smile. "My father's demon power… _enables_ him to…" Oh, God… how was she supposed to say this? "… intude upon one's psychological activity."

Chris blinked. "English?"

"He can read minds!" There she spit it out.

Chris frowned. "Okay… why are you telling me that now? Do you think he realized you were down here or something?"

"No," Daphne replied. "Well, yes! Maybe—I don't know! But that's not the point—he doesn't just read minds, he can change them too."

"Change them? Like make people think whatever _he_ wants them to think?"

Daphne nodded. "That's how he was able to take over so much land in the Underworld. And that's how he was trained me when I was young. When Sifilla realized that—"

"Sifilla?" Chris interrupted, frowning.

"The Seer. When she realized what his intentions were—to corrupt my thoughts from day one with evil—she took me away from him. She realized that if he had his way, I would grow far too evil and would throw off the balance between good and evil in the world. So she kidnapped me and she gave me a potion—one that enables me to _adapt_ to my surroundings."

"What do you mean?"

"When I'm with good people, I have a greater potential of being good myself," she explained. "So she sent me to you—the greatest source of good on our planet."

Chris wondered why he suddenly felt so elated. He knew he and his family was good, damn it. It's not like that was the first time he had heard that compliment.

"But before she could make the potion, she brought me up in a secluded area of the Underworld that nobody knew about so I could not be influenced by anybody except her. And since her greatest feeling was of neutrality leaning towards good for me, that's how I grew up."

"So you're saying that if you come across demons, you'll…"

Daphne hesitated, then realized that she might as well tell him the truth. At least he seemed to be believing her now. "If I'm with demons, it's the same deal. I have a greater _potential_ of being evil."

"That must be why she sent you as far away from the Underworld as possible."

Daphne nodded. "But now, I'm hearing my father's voice…"

"And he can change minds, apparently!" Chris rubbed his palm across his face. "That must be why we've been ignoring Aunt Paige's disappearance all this time."

"I don't know," Daphne replied immediately, "I don't believe he's that powerful, though."

When Chris frowned at her questioningly, she continued with, "You guys are the _Charmed Ones_! Demon are only as powerful as their opponents allow them to be. No matter how well-practiced my father may have gotten over these years with changing people's thoughts, it's almost impossible to apply that power against someone as good and as powerful as the Charmed Ones. The Seer said that the best he could possibly do is convince you guys to add an extra spoon of sugar to your coffee in the morning."

"But he must've had some sort of an influence," Chris argued. "I'm serious—my mom does _not_ fool around when it comes to missing family members, especially her sisters. If she didn't go after Aunt Paige the moment she hear about her, _something_ must've been wrong with her mind."

Daphne shrugged. God, she just wished she knew what was going on here. What was her father planning? Did he know she was down here? Was he coming after her? Or was he coming after the Charmed Ones? Or Chris? She felt her heart jump. _THEY WILL DIE IF THEY COME DOWN HERE!_

She shuddered uncontrollably and a dull thumping started in her brain. "Chris, it's happening again," Daphne groaned.

Chris crawled forward quickly and sat down right in front of her. "Tell me what he's saying, Daphne."

"I can't hear anything," Daphne replied, shaking her head vigerously. "I just… get this feeling that he's satisfied… but angry."

"Concentrate harder," Chris encouraged her, leaning forward. "Try to _feel_ what he's feeling."

Daphne shut her eyes tightly, covering her face with her hands. A garble of voices floated through her head, coming into focus for just a second, then disappearing like floating snarls. "He's…" she frowned. He felt scared… about what? She bit her lip, trying to make some sense of the ruckus… Wow! He's angry, all right! She felt the anger well up inside her also, spreading through her like poison. Then…

"Daphne, stop."

She barely heard Chris's whisper. Why was he angry? Why was he scared? What's going on?

"Daphne!"

"He's really angry, Chris. But he's planning something…"

"Daphne, damn it! I said stop it!" Chris suddenly reached forward and pulled her hands away from her face. She cried out at the force of his action, falling onto her side roughly. Her head suddenly began to hurt like hell, pounding as though a little boy went mallet-happy against it or something. Her brain felt like it was bloating against her skull, expanding and oozing until her skull wanted to burst with the pressure.

Somehow, she managed to open her eyes, blinking against the faint lighting in the cave. As soon as the pain had come, it was receding also. "My head!" She gasped, almost as though she was angry at it. Frustrated was more like it… or irritated. Damn it, she had been _this_ close to finding out what her father had been planning.

"You're hurt," Chris muttered roughly, pushing her hand away from the side of her face. Daphne looked down to see blood on her finger-tips and her mouth dropped open.

"I'm bleeding!" She exclaimed.

"Damn right," Chris replied in a low voice, sounding almost amused at the lightness in her voice. He let his hands hover over the wound on the side of her head. They began to glow with a golden haze and the blood disappeared almost instantaneously as did the wound.

Once he was done, he took a hold of her arm and helped her to her feet. She growled with frustration. "I was _this_ close, Chris! _This close_ to finding out what he was thinking."

"Yeah, and you were also _this_ close to dying," Chris replied sarcastically. "Or maybe _you_ didn't notice—there was a wound like a bullet-shot to the side of your head!"

"You healed it, didn't you?" Daphne replied, waving him off. She began to pace the ground before him. "I need to do it again—I _have_ to find out what he was planning."

"No," Chris replied firmly, crossing his arms. "What you need to do is stop thinking about your father—it's obviously upsetting you."

"Upsetting me?" Daphne scoffed. "Are you kidding? I was using his powers against him! And I almost succeeded, Chris, don't you get that?"

Chris gritted his teeth, almost grinding them to pieces. "What you were doing, Daphne, was killing yourself, don't _you_ get that?"

"I repeat—you healed me, didn't you?"

"Only because you stopped when you did," Chris pointed out. "If you had waited any more, you would've had a hole to the center of your brain!"

"You're exaggerating," Daphne replied, crossing her arms.

Chris paused. Okay, maybe he was… a little. "The wound was there and it would have killed you if you had kept doing whatever it was that you were doing," he told her in a surprisingly calm voice.

"You don't get it, Chris," Daphne sighed. "Ever since I can remember, my father had been planning something. First, it was how to take over the Underworld, then it was how to turn me evil, then it was how to get me back from the Seer. If he's planning something against me right now, I need to know!"

"I think it's pretty damn obvious what he was planning!" Chris replied. "Either to turn you evil again or to kill you."

"But we don't know how, do we? If we knew that, we could be more prepared!" Daphne pointed out.

"We're not going to find out that way," Chris replied firmly. "If he was indeed trying to kill you, you were making it a whole hell of a lot easier on him!"

"Am I the only one taking my father seriously here? We need to find out what he's doing, Chris!"

"You think I'm not taking this seriously?" Chris argued. "My aunt's missing, my cousin was attacked and her **_boyfriend's_ missing too, the posse who went out ot find my aunt—including my other cousin—is missing also, and a demon's after my family and my charge's father wants to kill her!"**

**"You don't know that!"**

**Chris stared at her in disbelief. "No, I do know that. And you know what, I think I'll do it for him!" **

**"Not if I kill you first," Daphne replied in a growl. She put up her hand at the same time he did, ready to conjure their respective balls of energy and fire but instead, a big, heavy crossbow suddenly appeared in Daphne's hand. "Oh, damn!" She gasped, stumbling slightly under its weight. For a second, they both stared at it, completely shocked by its appearance. "I didn't know I could do that!" she said softly to herself. Then, she turned to him and aimed the crossbow at him, a challenge in her eyes.**

**Chris stared at her, wondering if he should laugh or beat her to a pulp. Then, he suddenly reached up and pushed the crossbow aside, careful not to catch the poisoned blade, grabbed her hair and tugged her to himself.**

**For the moment, a kiss seemed just about punishment enough for her idiocy.**

**Or maybe not punishment _enough_…**


	9. Chpater 5 Part I

**Sorry this part of the chapter is short, guys. The next installment will definitely be longer!**

"You're right!"

Piper jumped at the sudden voice and whirled around to find her husband and her eldest son standing right behind her. Leo looked slightly breathless and Wyatt looked… even more pissed off now than before he left. It was a wonder, really, that she didn't notice the light of their orbs. The potion she was working on required all of her concentration and she did not appreciate being interrupted in the middle. Even though it was nice to hear that she was right about something… whatever it was. "Hello to you too," she replied, turning back to her potion. "What am I right about… besides everything?"

"Daphne's demon power enables her to read other people's minds—"

"Correction!" Wyatt interrupted him. "It enables her to read other people's _emotions_!"

Leo just rolled his eyes and walked around Piper so he was facing her. "The Elders apparently _did_ know about it—"

"And they still found it safe to send her to us?" Piper replied, placing a hand on her hip. "Are they out of their minds… _again_?"

"They sent her to us because they saw no threat in her," Wyatt told her, walking to his father's side. "And if they don't see a threat, then there probably _isn't_ one!"

"That's bull!" Phoebe snapped, walking into the room. "I can think of at least ten times when their '_judgment_' was completely wrong. Those guys know _nothing_ up there."

"Uh… Phoebe," Leo said softly. "They _can_ hear you."

"Like we care!" Phoebe and Piper replied at the same time. "Leo, maybe you're forgetting that _their judgment_ resulted in our _son_ getting trapped in the Underworld with the one person who is most likely to turn him against us?"

"Mom, she's not going to do anything of the sort," Wyatt sighed. "Look, I agree with the Elders this once. I don't think Daphne is evil and I don't think she's going to _turn_ Chris against us."

"She's already turned you," Piper muttered softly, throwing a pinch of paprika into her potion. A small explosion occurred inside the pot, emitting white smoke that Piper waved aside with her hand.

"What are you making?" Leo asked her.

"A power-stripping potion," Piper replied. "If the Elders are going to remain mule-headed about Daphne being all good and stuff, then we need to take our own measurements!"

"Piper, it's most likely that we're just jumping to conclusions here. Due to the potions that the Seer had been giving her, Daphne's magical growth has been stunted for quite some while," Leo told her. "It's entirely possible that she didn't even grow into her demon-powers yet."

"Uh-huh," Piper replied distractedly.

Leo sighed with frustration and turned away from her.

"Leo, if the Seer was giving her potions to stunt her 'magical growth' or whatever, that's great," Phoebe replied on Piper's behalf. "But where's the Seer _now_?"

Leo turned towards her slightly, quirking an eyebrow in question.

"Daphne's not taking any potions as far as we know and if the Seer _and_ the Elders thought that her coming into her demon-powers would be a threat, then we need to be ready. And remember that they _do_ think she's going to be a threat, that's why they sent her to us."

"They didn't think she was going to be a threat," Wyatt replied heatedly. "They thought she was being _threatened_! By her father! Who's out to kill her or turn her, remember?"

"Okay, then we'll use this potion on him," Piper shrugged. "Either way, we have at least one demon to get and I'm not taking chances with either."

(0) 

Chris stirred slightly, grunting when he felt a hard rock press into his side uncomfortably. He rolled onto his back, edging away from the rock and sighed into sleep again, lightly scratching the side of his neck. There was a small smile on his face as he slipped into the dream that had been momentarily interrupted—he was apparently down in the Underworld with a really hot chick… a _dark-lighter_ maybe? Yes, a dark-lighter; he distinctly remembered her pulling out a crossbow. But that was before he had kissed her and now…

His eyes suddenly snapped open. And now, he was curled up against her on the ground with his shirt covering both of them very meekly. And…

"Daph?" He croaked. She didn't stir. He cleared his throat and nudged his elbow into her side. "Daph!"

She slowly blinked her eyes open, unconsciously curling into a tighter ball, then smiled at him. "Good morning!"

"No," Chris shook his head, not looking at her. "Bad morning. _Very_ bad morning!"

They were surrounded by a group of twenty or so demons; all of them had fireballs in their hands and were grinning down at them in the most sinister manner.

Daphne turned her head slightly to look at them, then closed her eyes with a tired sigh. "Shit."


	10. Chapter 5 Part II

**NOTE: I'M REALLY, REALLY, REALLY SORRY ABOUT MY DISAPPEARANCE, EVERYBODY! BUT I PROMISE I WILL TRY MY VERY BEST TO FINISH THIS STORY IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO! I MIGHT HAVE TO OCASSIONALLY TAKE BREAKS 'CUZ I HAVE SEVERE BOUTS OF AUTHOR'S BLCOK EVERY NOW AND THEN BUT _I WILL FINISH THE STORY!_ SO, THANKS FOR BEING PATIENT AND PLEASE COMMENT ON THE NEW INSTALLMENT! I HOPE YOU LIKE IT!**

"Get up!" One of the demons growled at Chris, baring his pointed teeth. Chris let his head drop back, hitting the ground softly. He felt Daphne mirror his action to his side and turned to look at her. She looked back at him with a question in her eyes and he heard the question in his mind as clearly as though she had spoken it: "Up for a little demon-killing?"

He looked around them again, mentally sizing up the various demons surrounding them.

"I said get up!" the previous demon growled again. He turned to see him holding a fireball in his hand. Several others followed his suit.

Chris turned back to Daphne and shook his head slightly, warning her not to attack them. There was no doubt in his mind that they were sent here by the Nemritzar demon and if that was true, then they needed them to show the way to his lair. She rolled her eyes and lifted herself halfway, clutching the shirt to her front. "Um, do you mind?" Daphne asked the demon.

He sneered back. "No."

"Turn around, you ass-hole," Chris told him in a dangerously low voice, his eyes narrowing with ill-disguised disgust.

"Nice try, witch," the demon growled back. "Throw them their clothes," he told his fellow-demons, then turned back to Chris and Daphne, "You get dressed in front of us, or we blow your asses right now."

"Excuse me, are you threatening us… Feigel?" Daphne asked him with a quirked eyebrow. The demon looked at her, the sneer dropping from his face quickly. "Yeah, that's right, I know who you are," Daphne told him. "And I also know that my dad would have your ugly head for breakfast if you so much as touch us. So, I suggest that you turn around and let us get dressed unless you want us to vanquish you into a thousand pieces."

All the demons around them turned to look at each other anxiously, then turned to Feigel. The demon scowled, distorting his face into an ugly lump of burnt, scarred flesh, then nodded grudgingly. "You even _think_ about trying something, and I assure you I'll not hesitate to chop off your pretty little head, you hear me?"

With that, the entire circle turned around, facing the rocky walls of the clearing. Daphne turned to look at Chris, then sighed. He reached for their clothes and threw them towards her. They both took their sweet time getting dressed, deriving a sweet satisfaction from the impatient shuffling all around them by the end of five whole minutes.

"Are you done yet?!" Feigel growled.

"Just about," Chris replied, buttoning up his shirt. The demons turned around, all of them looking highly irritable. Daphne gave them all a very sweet smile and said, "So, where we off to, boys?"

When they arrived at Satan's Pit, Chris had to admit that he was sorely disappointed. Even though he knew that all of the Underworld was basically constructed the same way—the same rocky walls splattered with blood or scorch marks, the same sandy ground sometimes strewn with desecrated bodies or more scorch marks—he had been expecting something a little more… _unique_ of one of the most powerful demons existing. However, his cave was like any other cave they had passed through: dimly lit, ugly and maybe just a breath more spacious. There was a single fire burning to their side, throwing strange shapes onto the walls and the air smelled of a mixture of burnt flesh and staleness. The far end of the cave was completely hidden in shadows, but suddenly, a voice cried out from the darkness: "Chris!"

Chris jumped about a foot into the air when he heard the voice. "A-Aunt Paige?"

A blue ball of light appeared in the darkness, lightly illuminating the other end of the cave—which was actually a lot closer than Chris had initially imagined—and a large metallic cage. Inside the cage, much to Chris's immense relief and equally immense shock, were Paige and Harry, looking back towards them. Paige had the energy ball in her hand that was emitting the light.

Chris stepped towards them but was immediately pushed back by a short, portly demon who growled at him menacingly. "Don't move!"

"Fuck you!" Chris scoffed. A second later, the demon was engulfed by an energy ball and disappeared.

The demons simply stared at him, frozen in shock at what he had just done. Then, an uproar burst through the crowd. "What the—" Daphne exclaimed behind him, then groaned. Chris ignored her and aimed two more energy balls towards the demons closest to them. He heard several more zaps of energy and shrieks behind him as Daphne sprung into action.

"Chris, behind you!"

Chris whirled around and ducked as Feigel advanced towards him with a roar, sending a fireball flying through the air just above his head. He kicked at the demon's legs, sending him sprawling to the ground, then punched him squarely in the jaw with as much force as he could muster. The demon let out a groan of pain, clutching at his broken jaw. With immense satisfaction, Chris took a hold of the demon's bloody face and twisted his head to the side roughly. After a sharp, resounding crack, the demon lay motionless, his ugly face twisted in pain.

"Chris, watch out!" Daphne shouted towards him, sending a fireball in his direction. Chris ducked just in time as the fireball rushed through the air where his head had been seconds ago and hit the last of the demons behind him. In the silence that followed, Daphne stared at him, her mouth slightly open in an incredulous expression. "Are you out of your mind?! We agreed not to attack them!"

"Just until they led us to your father's lair," Chris replied, rising to his feet. "Look around, Daphne, we're here!"

Daphne rolled her eyes. "Okay, but maybe next time, before you decide to engage in acts of humungous idiocy, can you please warn me so I'm prepared?"

Chris looked around them at the smoking scorch marks and shrugged. "You did fine now, didn't you?" He didn't wait for her reply and turned towards the cage with Paige and Harry in it. He rushed towards it, an enormous feeling of relief rushing over him. "Aunt Paige, Harry, are you all right?"

"We're fine, how did you find us?" Paige replied, still shocked to see him there.

"And who's that girl you're with?" Harry added.

Paige looked towards Daphne apprehensively, then turned back to Chris, lowering her voice. "You do realize she's a demon, don't you?"

"Yeah, and she's also a dark-lighter," Chris replied, not bothering to drop his voice as he fingered the lock on the door to the cage. He backed away and aimed an energy ball at it. The ball hit the metal and evaporated without so much as leaving a scorch mark.

"What do you mean she's a dark-lighter?!" Paige hissed.

"You know, the kind that conjure crossbows and hunt white-lighters?" Chris told her distractedly. He threw another energy ball at it, and another, letting the energy get stronger each time. Still nothing.

"Yes, I know what a dark-lighter is, but Chris—!"

"Stop that, it's not going to work," Daphne told him, walking up from behind him. She looked up and down the cage structure with her hands on her hips. "He would've had more protections on it than a mere magic-less lock."

"Do you have any suggestions?" Chris asked her, quirking his eyebrows.

Daphne hesitated, softly biting at the inside of her lip as she wracked her brain for any information she might've retained from the Seer's book that might help them out in this situation but she got nothing. She sighed and grudgingly admitted, "No."

"Chris," Paige said softly. She looked from Daphne to Chris, then turned to Harry. They shared significant looks, then both stared at Chris pointedly.

Daphne sighed again, "I may be a demon-dark-lighter, but I'm of no danger to you," she told them in what she hoped to be a reassuring voice. "I'm here to help you and Chris."

"It's true, you guys. You can trust her," Chris told them, then hesitantly added, "I think."

Daphne glared at him.

"Well, the fact remains that we are still stuck down here!" Chris pointed out, not looking at her.

"Like I said, I had nothing to do with that shield!" Daphne whispered back, her irritation returning ten-fold now.

"What shield?" Harry asked them.

He was soundly ignored. "It doesn't matter if _you_ did it or not, Daph, but we both know that the reason we're being blocked by whoever did this is because you are down here and they don't want you to escape!"

"We don't even know that—"

"I can't believe we're back to this again!" Chris scoffed, throwing his arms into the air in frustration.

"Chris, we still don't know if I can shimmer out of here! If you had just trusted me and let me try—"

"How the hell was I supposed to that you weren't just gonna up and leave?"

"'Cuz I told you I wouldn't!" Daphne pointed out. "All you had to do was trust me!"

"Um, guys—" Harry tried to interrupt again but was immediately cut-off.

"Okay, fine!" Chris replied forcefully. "Fine, I trust you now, so do it!"

Daphne stared at him, her mouth slightly open. Then, she laughed, placing her hands on her hips. "You trust me now?"

Chris looked perplexed. "Yes, I trust you now, what's so funny about that? Isn't it what you wanted?"

"Oh, it's exactly what I wanted," Daphne replied, crossing her arms. "But do tell me, what is the reason for your sudden trust in me?"

Chris immediately realized where this was going and groaned. "Will you just try it, Daph?"

"No, I will not just try it—" Daphne replied. "I first want to know what it was that changed your mind."

"You might _think_ that's why I trust you now, Daphne, but—"

"But it isn't?" Daphne asked him in a challenging tone. "You men and your sick, sick minds!"

"Hey!" Paige shouted suddenly. They both turned to her, dazed at the sudden interruption. "I don't know what the hell you two are talking about," she said with a fake, polite smile, "but if you could please hold off your arguments until _after_ we figure out a way to get out of this mess, that would be fantastic! I know you just killed a bunch of demons and all, but that does _not_ mean we're out of danger, so if you could stop acting like babies for a moment…"

Neither Chris nor Daphne liked being referred to as 'babies' but they didn't dare correct Paige at the moment because she looked immensely irritated and suddenly tired. Chris noticed the dark circles under her eyes along with several wounds on the side of her face caked with dry blood and frowned.

"Now, what is this shield that you're talking about?" Paige asked them.

"We're blocked into the Underworld," Chris told her. "I can't orb out and I'm assuming that nobody can orb in either because no one has come looking for us."

"Is that why no one came looking for _me_ other than my son?" Paige asked him, her voice bordering on irritation.

"Um…," Chris started nervously. He wondered if it would be wise to tell her that everyone had assumed she could take care of herself… and that no one in particular had actually bothered to worry about her either. She looked pissed off enough as it was.

"We think there's another explanation for that," Daphne interrupted quickly. "The Nemritzar Demon probably was keeping your family from thinking you were in danger."

"What?"

"That's right," Chris chirped up immediately, glad Daphne had said that. He had almost forgotten about that theory! "We think—no, we _know_ that his power is to control a person's cognition. He was probably interfering with our emotions and making us believe that you weren't in trouble."

Paige looked from Chris to Daphne, looking confused.

"But how do you know that?" Harry asked her, frowning.

"Because she's his—"

"Because I know about him," Daphne quickly cut off Chris. "I know who he is."

She ignored Chris's look and kept her eyes fixed on Paige, who was shaking her head slightly. "My sisters wouldn't have been fooled by that."

"Well, there's no other explanation, is there?" Chris asked her. "You're right, mom and Aunt Phoebe would never leave you down here, and neither would any of the rest of us. But it was almost as though it was of no significance to us."

Paige looked at him thoughtfully. "You know, even though that's a somewhat sensible explanation, I still don't like the fact that you considered my disappearance 'insignificant'."

"Or mine," Harry nodded.

"Sorry," Chris mumbled.

"Okay," Paige sighed. "So, what are you guys doing down here now? Did you _mother_ finally come around to her senses?" She asked with a sarcastic smile.

Chris looked at Daphne, then back at Paige. "Unfortunately, not really. We came down here to find Damien."

"Damien?" Paige replied, blinking.

"I know, I know, I already feel horrible about all of this, Aunt Paige, but trust me! There definitely was very powerful magic involved or we would _not_ have ignored you—"

"No, I know," Paige nodded with a sigh. "But…" She looked at Chris, worry in her eyes. "Chris, we saw Damien."

"You did? Well, where is he?"

Paige and Harry looked at each other. "He's dead," Harry finally told them. "We saw the demons bring him down here. They were going to put him in the cage with us, but he tried to escape so they killed him."

"Oh, my God," Daphne whispered.

Chris sighed, covering his eyes with his hand. He pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose, then opened his eyes again. "We need to get out of here. Daphne, try to shimmer."

Daphne nodded. A second later, she disappeared, her image waving away dimly, then reappeared again in the same spot she had started in. "It's working," she told them, smiling with relief.

"Good, good," Chris replied. "Okay, try shimmering into the cage and get them back to the manor." As Daphne prepared to take off again, Chris put out his hand and stopped her. "You're going to come back, yes?"

Daphne rolled her eyes, smiling, and shimmered into the cage. She held onto Paige and Harry's arms, then shimmered out again, disappearing from the cave. Chris sighed in the following silence, staring into the empty cage with a feeling of dread and relief churning at his stomach. If they hadn't come here on time, who _knows_ what would've happened to Aunt Paige and Harry. They might have met the same fate as Damien and he knew he would've never forgiven himself after that. Hell, his mother would probably kill them all for letting that happen, then killed herself!

He turned around, shaking the unpleasant thoughts from his head. There was a new problem now: how were they going to tell Cathryn that her boyfriend was dead? She would probably blame herself for it even though it was not even in the remotest of ways her fault. And the truth would be that no one would ever trust her again, knowing that she could get herself killed just like Damien. She would be heartbroken and she would have her freedom snatched away—

"Cathryn?"

The young girl looked up, surprised, from the other end of the cave. "Chris!" She gasped.

"What are you—wait!—where are you going?!" Chris gasped as she turned on her heel and ran out of the cave. "Cathryn!" He ran after her into the dark pathway outside of the cave leading to the Southern network. He blinked, looking for any signs of movement down the length of the corridor. "Cathryn!"

Suddenly, he felt something very large and very solid come crashing down on his head. He fell to the ground with a cry, his eyes popping with white lights, then quickly blacking away into darkness.

(0)

"Oh, my God, Paige! I'm so sorry, honey," Phoebe gasped clutching her sister tightly to herself. "I swear I have no idea what came over us! I'm so, so, _so_ sorry we left you down there! And Harry! Oh, God, I'm so sorry!"

Paige smiled softly. "I'm not going to say it's okay," she told her grudgingly, "but I'll hold off on the punishment for another time."

"I second that," Harry agreed jokingly, joining in the hug.

"Oh, sweetie," Phoebe sighed, releasing them both. She gently touched the side Paige's face, her eyes filled with concern. "You're hurt!" Furious, she immediately turned to Daphne who was standing a few feet away, silently letting them have their reunion. "What happened?!"

"Nothing happened!" Paige reassured her quickly. "It was the Nemritzar Demon and his cronies, nothing too serious."

That statement did nothing to calm her anger. Phoebe turned slowly towards Daphne, her jaw tight with control. "The _Nemritzar_ Demon?"

"Yeah," Paige nodded, frowning. She looked from Phoebe to Daphne, wondering why she was looking at her like that. "They were the ones who got me when I went down there and… am I missing something?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Phoebe replied, not looking at her. "Daphne, are we missing something?"

"Phoebe," Daphne began, shaking her head, "I didn't have anything to do with this! I didn't even know he had her—"

"Oh, you didn't?" Phoebe said sarcastically. "You really expect me to believe that?"

"Aunt Phoebe, what's going on?" Harry asked her.

"The Nemritzar Demon is Daphne's father," Phoebe told them. "Didn't she tell you that?"

"What?" Paige exclaimed, turning towards Daphne.

"But I don't even know him," Daphne replied desperately.

"That's not what you said down there," Paige replied, nodding towards the ground.

"No, I do know him," Daphne amended herself. "But I only know _of_ him, you have to believe me."

"Oh, no," Phoebe replied, shaking her head. "Leo!" She yelled out the ceiling of the attic.

"What—?"

"Paige, watch her," Phoebe said turning around. She walked to the table at the center of the attic and picked up a small bottle of red liquid. As she turned back towards them, two figures orbed into the attic near the door.

"Whoa, Aunt Phoebe, what are you doing?" Wyatt cried out, jumping towards her.

"Wyatt, step away right now," Phoebe warned him, lifting the bottle into the air.

"Phoebe—" Leo began, then stopped, spotting Paige and Harry to the side. "Paige! Where—how?"

"Chris and I found them," Daphne quickly explained. "I brought them here—"

"How did you get out of there?" Phoebe asked her, stilling her hand in the air. "Last time Wyatt and Coop tried to get into the Underworld, they were apparently _blocked out_, was that part of your plan too?"

"Plan? What _plan_?" Wyatt asked her, frowning.

"Paige and Harry were captured by the _Nemritzar_ Demon in the Underwrold," Phoebe told him, her eyes fixed on Daphne. "They have been stuck down there under his clutches and we didn't even bother to go find them! Then, Daphne here shows up on our doorstep acting the perfect little angel and pretending to get on our good side—"

"But—" Daphne began but was cut off.

"—Less than 24 hours later, Cathryn is attacked by demons in her own bedroom—"

"Cathryn was attacked?" Paige gasped.

"Yes, Paige, Cathryn was attacked by a couple of demons just last night," Phoebe told her, still looking at Daphne who was shaking her head softly now. "She's fine now, but her boyfriend is missing!"

"Aunt Paige, that doesn't mean it's all Daphne's fault," Wyatt pointed out, firmly remaining in position between his aunt and Daphne.

"No?" Phoebe asked him with a challenging look in her eyes. "Have you ever wondered why we didn't go looking for Paige, Wyatt? Or why I let Cathryn see that boy again even though you and I both know that normally, I would never have let that happen?"

"She said it was the Nemritzar Demon," Paige told her, nodding towards Daphne.

"No, try Daphne herself," Phoebe corrected her. "Piper and I just went to find the Seer who had raised her. It turns out Daphne's demon powers are to read and effect other people's emotions and thoughts. As soon as we found out, Piper sent me back to finish up this power-stripping potion and I'm glad I did because we sure as hell need it—"

"Phoebe, no!"

But it was too late. Phoebe threw the potion and the glass shattered. Daphne cried out and disappeared, her arms over her head. They all stared at the potion bottle lying in pieces on the ground with the fizzing red liquid steaming slightly in a dark puddle. They all simply stood there in silence, trying to contemplate what had just happened. Then, slowly, Phoebe turned around to look at Paige who had pushed her to the side just as she had thrown the potion, causing the liquid to land about a yard away from where Daphne had been standing.

"Why… did you do that?" Phoebe asked in a very low voice. "I had her!"

"I know," Paige replied. "But I couldn't let you strip her powers. Not yet."

"Why not?!"

"Because Chris is stuck in the Underworld and the only person who can shimmer in and out of there right now is Daphne."

(0)

Daphne reappeared on the sandy floor of the Underworld, her arms still curled over her head and her legs squatting. She crouched to the ground for several seconds, the silence pressing in on her ears eerily. Slowly, she let her arms drop and looked around herself at the clearing she had landed in. It took her several moments to realize that she had subconsciously shimmered out of the Halliwells' just in the nick of time before the potion had hit her. As a sudden rush of relief took over her body, she fell to the ground, her knees drawn up in front of her. She placed her hand over her face, feeling the cool air rush in and out of her lungs unevenly as her heart raced with adrenaline. "Oh, my God," she whispered, gulping. She licked her lips, calming her breath slowly and let her hand drop. "That was close," she whispered to herself.

"Too close."

She jumped a foot into the air and whirled around, a fireball ready in her hand.

"No," the demon before her stated simply, flicking his fingers toward her hand. The fireball went flying out of her hand and hit the far wall of the cave, disappearing with a crackle.

She jumped to her feet and before the demon could so much as blink, she threw another ball towards him. However, he was too quick for her. He shimmered out and reappeared a few feet away, chuckling softly. "Oh, my dear, you are far too naïve if you think those would be enough to destroy me."

"If they're not, then why are you running?" She asked, aiming yet another ball towards him.

"Because," he smiled, "this is too fun." He caught her fireball in his hand and pushed it towards her again. She ducked and it hit the wall behind her.

She stared at it for a moment, then slowly turned back towards the demon, her eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" She asked. But she knew the answer before he even uttered the words.

"I'm the Nemritzar Demon."

**NOTE: I ALMOST TYPED THE WORDS "I AM YOUR FATEHR" RIGHT HERE, BUT BURST OUT LAUGHING WHEN I REALIZED HOW CHEEZY/STAR WARS REMINISCENT THAT WOULD BE AND HAD TO CHANGE THE WORDS… BUT YOU GET THE PICTURE, RIGHT? D**


	11. Chapter 6 Parts I and II

"Oh, my God," Wyatt gasped, falling into one of the chairs in the attic with his head in his hands. "I can't believe it."

"She was using our powers on us, Wyatt, no one blames you for thinking she was innocent," Leo pointed out.

"No, it was all a trap," Wyatt replied shaking his head. "Daphne was the one who convinced Chris and me to go into the Underworld, believing we knew where he was. Chris kept saying he just had this 'vibe' about his position, and I didn't think anything of it, but Daphne was the one giving him this vibe. He's probably down there already captured by the Nemritzar Demon, which must've been the plan to begin with!"

"Oh, Jesus," Phoebe whispered, falling into another chair. "What are we going to do?"

"We have to go back to the Underworld, of course," Leo replied.

Paige walked towards the dais upon which the Book of Shadows lay open. Frowning, she slowly ruffled through the pages.

"There's nothing in there, Paige, we already tried," Phoebe told her. "There's a spell to _make_ a shield, and a spell to shield ourselves, but there is nothing telling us how to _break_ a shield."

"Exactly," Paige whispered, blinking into empty space. Suddenly, she started flipping the pages even faster, her eyes roaming down the length of the book frantically with every page she turned.

Phoebe sighed and looked towards Leo who frowned back at her. "Paige, what are you talking about?"

"What was this shield like?" Paige asked Wyatt. "What did it feel like?"

"It felt like any other shield would feel," Wyatt replied. "It was hard and—"

"Did it feel like a slight electric zap?"

Wyatt blinked. "Actually, yes… yes it did."

Paige nodded, looking more and more confident now, "Like it feels when someone throws an energy ball at you when you have _your_ shield up?"

Wyatt frowned. "H-How do you know this--?"

"Because," Paige began slowly, then broke out into a triumphant smile as she stopped on a page in the Book of Shadows and looked up at the room, "because I _made_ this spell."

"You what?" a chorus of voices rang out at her statement.

"I made this spell," Paige repeated. "About two months ago. Wyatt's shield saves his ass a billion times a day in battle by blocking out attacks and I wanted something that would act in a similar way—something that would make battles in the Underworld so much easier! So I made up a spell that would block out _attackers_, not just the attacks. I mean, think about it, if you could block out more demons from coming into a certain area of the Underworld until you had completely dealt with the ones already on hand, how useful would that be?"

"Pretty damn useful," Leo admitted, "but our concern right now is getting rid of the shield. Do you--?"

"Yes, I do!" Paige replied nodding. "I also needed something to remove the shield to let more demons in and to get out of the Underworld myself!" She flipped the page once again and let her finger trail down the parchment until it reached about halfway down the page. "Here it is!"

"I saw that spell in there!" Phoebe exclaimed jumping to her feet to join her sister's side. "But it said it was specific only for the shields made using _your_ spell and that it wouldn't work for anything else—"

Paige nodded. "But this _is_ my shield. I _know_ it's my shield! So the counter-spell will work."

"How do you know it's your shield though?"

Paige looked up at her, the smile slipping from her face slightly as she hesitated. "Because I conjured it."

(0)

"Get away from me!" Daphne growled, aiming another fireball at the demon.

"Daphne, stop this foolishness. Do you realize you're trying to kill your own father?!"

"Foolishness?" Daphne scoffed. "Damn it, you're not my father, you never were! And I'm pretty damn happy to say that!" She threw another fireball at him but it was also intercepted by her father's magic.

"I did nothing but care for you—"

"Okay, don't get _cheesy_ with me, _dad_!" Daphne replied sarcastically. "I don't wanna hear your explanations for anything, I just wanna get the hell away from you 'cuz you're creepy! And you're trying to kill my friends."

"Friends?" The Nemritzar Demon laughed. "You can't be talking about the Halliwells!"

Daphne scoffed and straightened. She quickly shimmered out of the Underworld but felt a sudden drag to her shimmer and a loud 'NO!' resonating through the depths of her mind before she fell to the ground again. "God damn it, let me leave!" She yelled at the demon, getting to her feet.

"The Halliwells are not your friends, Daphne," The Nemritzar Demon growled at her, stepping towards her. "How can you even trust them after what they tried to do to you?"

"They thought I was trying to kill them all," Daphne pointed out. "They had every reason to believe that I was evil and I understand that!"

"Why? Is it because you are evil?" He asked her softly.

"What?" Daphne scoffed.

"You are wondering that yourself, aren't you, Daphne?" He asked her. Slowly, he began pacing around her. "You are wondering if you _had_ been controlling their minds, if you had subconsciously wanted to hurt them all."

"Okay, stop that!" Daphne snapped, turning towards him. "First of all, your pathetic attempts at trying to intimidate me by doing that weird walking-around-in-a-circle- slowly thing is not intimidating at all, it's just pathetic. And secondly, I never wanted to hurt the Halliwells and I don't want to now either! It was _you_ who were controlling their minds!"

"Me?" The Nemritzar Demon asked, looking perplexed.

"Yes, you! You first trapped Paige down here and convinced her sisters that she was not in any danger so that they wouldn't all come here and vanquish your ass halfway to hell. But then, you dragged Harry down here, and then you got Damien, and slowly, you started to trap the members of the Halliwell family, one by one. But when Chris and Wyatt came down here, and when you realized how close Chris was getting to finding out where Damien was, you realized that you were not match for the Halliwell boys either so you decided that you had to block them out. Don't you think I heard you when you were trying to convince Paige to put up that shield on the Underworld? It is, after all, her spell that you used to do that, wasn't it? You might be powerful, but you're no match against the Charmed Ones, and you knew it. So, you tried to use their own magic against them—"

The Nemritzar Demon began chuckling, shaking his head slightly. "Oh, my dear, Daphne," he sighed. "You are much smarter than I had ever imagined. But tell me, how is it that you figured out all of this?"

Daphne stared at him through narrowed eyes. "I know how you work."

"Oh, do you?" He asked in a surprised manner. "But how is that possible? I've never known you and you've never known me, that idiotic Seer made sure of that."

"She also made sure that I know how your twisted brain works so that I can protect myself."

"Is that so?" The Nemritzar Demon nodded. "Or is that your cover-up?"

"What are you talking about?" Daphne scoffed.

"What I'm talking about," he sneered, stepping towards her, "is that I never had any such plan! That is a story you conjured up to cover up your own plan!"

"That's ridiculous!"

"Is it?" He asked her. "Daphne, did you _really_ think that Seer stole you from me to 'keep the balance of the world'? Do you really think she fed you that potion to keep you _good_? And that she sent you to the Halliwells' hoping you would continue on your path of goodness?"

"You either make yourself clear in the next seven seconds before I loose my interest," Daphne said in a dangerously low voice, leaning towards him, "or you get your ugly face out of my way before I blow you up!"

The smile fell away from his face as quickly as it had come. He straightened himself, glaring at her, then said, "When you were two years old, the Seer kidnapped you from me and ran away to some dark area of the Underworld that nobody knew about. Since then, I began searching for you everywhere I could. Before that, I was lowly demon with barely any powers—"

"That's not true; you could control people's thoughts."

"No, I assure you that I have never possessed such a power in my life!" He replied. "It was determination to find _you_ that enabled me to take over all this land and achieve loyalty from demons around the Underworld. But unfortunately, I could not find you no matter where I searched. Soon, I did not have a choice but to give up and pray that you were safe. Little did I know that the Seer was _poisoning_ your mind all this time!"

"She wanted me to be good—"

"She wanted to use your lineage for her own purposes!" He cut her off, his voice rising. "A demon and a dark-lighter! There couldn't be a more dangerous combination and she knew it! She knew you were the only one powerful enough to defeat the Charmed Ones so she fed that potion to you everyday to turn you evil more quickly. She kept you in dark about your powers and about her plans in fear that if you do indeed turn good once you began associating with the Charmed Ones, you wouldn't ruin her plans. She wanted you to believe that _I_ was the one playing with their thoughts, not you."

Daphne stared at him, her blood pounding in her ears. "How could I be using my powers without even knowing it?"

"Do not ask me to explain the magic of a Seer. After instilling her plan into your brain, she sent you directly to the Halliwells under the pretense of protecting you from me. There, you began using your powers and slowly sending the Charmed Ones one by one directly to my lair—"

"Where _you_ trapped them!"

"My dear, I may not be as evil as you would like to believe," he laughed, "but I am no human! The legendary _Charmed_ Ones were presenting themselves on a platter before me and you expected me to just let them go? Think of my power, think of those who had been loyal to me until now! Think of the uproar if they had known I had let the Charmed Ones go!"

Daphne shook her head softly. Her ears were ringing in the strangest manner suddenly and her brain felt stuffed, as though it had far too much information to process at once.

"You thought you heard _me_ trying to convince Paige to put up the shield when it was actually _you_ doing it yourself. The moment Wyatt Halliwell left the Underworld, the shield went up. _You_ knew you couldn't deal with both the brothers, so you got rid of one—"

"It can't be!" She shouted at him suddenly. "If I had wanted to kill them, I had plenty of opportunity to do so, but I didn't!"

"Oh, but you forget the potion," he replied calmly. "The one thing the Seer had been afraid of was happening—despite all of the brain-washing she had done, the Charmed Ones' goodness was getting to you and you. Your powers were also getting in your way: you suddenly began feeling their emotions as yours. You felt Chris's concern for Cathryn and you went to rescue her. You felt his concern for Damien and you told him telepathically where he was. Then you felt his concern for Paige when you came down here and you found yourself rescuing both her and her son from the cage in my lair. Your ability to read others' emotions and the potion's effect on you, making you adapt others' characters as your own were working together to foil your own plan. But the Seer's magic has its own power."

Daphne backed away slowly, unable to bear it any longer. She gulped, hearing his words ring through her mind: "you began using your powers and slowly sending the Charmed Ones one by one directly to my lair"… "the moment Wyatt Halliwell left the Underworld, the shield went up"… "Do you really think she sent you to the Halliwell's hoping you would continue on your path of goodness?"

She placed a hand over her face, pressing her thumb and forefinger into her closed eyes. Little white lights began popping up in the darkness of her lids. How _had_ she known this whole plan? She couldn't recall the Seer ever actually telling her what her father was like… she had just subconsciously _known_… or had thought she had known.

Was it all true? Had she been the one doing all this to begin with?

She froze as a sudden thought struck her: did she really despise the idea that _she_ had been the one trying to get the Halliwells all this time? Had she truly ever been good? It all sounded so familiar… as though all the thoughts had actually been running through _her_ mind, and not as though… not as though she were thinking of someone else's plans. She _had_ been the one doing all of this?

Paige, Harry, Damien, Cathryn, Chris—

She looked up suddenly. "Where's Chris?"

Her father looked at her for a moment, then lowered his gaze.

"Where's Chris?!" She shouted at him.

"You sent a demon after him," he told her.

"I what?"

"When you left him in my lair, I was not there as you had planned to trap him—"

She shook her head. God, not more plans. "No," she whispered. "Just tell me where the hell he is, I don't want to hear what happened to him!"

When he didn't speak, Daphne felt her blood begin to boil. "If I am really as _powerful_ as you and the Seer believe I am," she began in a low growl, "then I can also vanquish your ass before you can even blink. So tell me where he is _right now_ or that is exactly what I will do."

She opened her palm at her side and felt the heat of the fireball curling around her skin, growing hotter and hotter by the second. She saw her father look from her face to the fireball, then back with a hint of fear in his eyes. "You know you cannot protect yourself any longer, dad. Not now; not when I know what I can do."

"All right, fine! I'll take you to him."

(0)

The demon slowly dragged his body across the floor, snickering to itself. It gave him a final tug and deposited him in a heap in the corner of the cave, unconscious. Pushing its filthy brown hair out of its face, it turned around to put more wood in the fire a few feet away, its insides quivering at the thought of the tasty meal the witch-boy would make, and laughed.

"Ima havin a nice meal," it sang softly, "and ima put it in the nice fire and roast it—yum yum! Heh heh—"

Suddenly, a fireball came flying through the air and hit the demon squarely in the chest. It shrieked with pain, curling in on itself and fell forward into the fire, crackling away into dust. Daphne ran into the cave, going directly to Chris and fell to her knees by his side. "Oh, my God, he's bleeding!" She gasped, seeing the blood trickling down the side of his head and from his nose. "We have to get him to Wyatt or Leo or—"

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Her father asked her, dipping down on Chris's other side. He looked over Chris's wounds, his light eyes sparkling in the light from the fire. "They will not be very happy to see you—"

"They'll be happy to see Chris," she cut him off. "And they'll be happy to heal him, so yes, I do want to do that."

He looked up at her for a moment, then sighed. "Fine, if you have a death-wish—"

"Shh!" Daphne whispered as Chris began to stir. "Chris? Can you hear me?"

Chris scowled, then opened his eyes slowly, blinking several times. "Oh, shit. What's the bloody matter with my head?"

"You got that right," Daphne sighed, suddenly so relieved that she felt like kissing him.

"Oh, Chris!" Her father gasped, a large smile breaking onto his face. He grabbed Chris's face between his hands and leaned down.

"What the--?!" Chris cried out, shoving him aside frantically and crawling away from him. "Who the hell are you?! And _why_ did you just try to kiss me?!"

The Nemritzar Demon straightened himself, looking completely shocked with his actions. Then, he turned to Daphne. "Oh, Daphne! I can't believe you—"

Suddenly, understanding what had happened, Daphne burst out laughing. "Oh—you—he tried to—oh--!" She keeled over to her side, clutching at her stomach.

"Oh, she finds it so hilarious," the Nemritzar Demon wondered to himself, turning away disgustedly.

"She finds what hilarious?" Chris asked him, still trying to blink through the haze and pain.

Daphne rolled onto her back, gasping for air as tears trickled down the sides of her face.

"Please don't ask," The Nemritzar Demon muttered.

Hearing his words, she burst out into a fresh bout of laughter. Chris watched her, suddenly feeling elated himself thought God knew why 'cuz his skull felt like it was split in two. He slowly tried to lift himself but slipped and fell forward again.

"Oh," Daphne said, suddenly coming to her senses. She moved forward and slowly helped him to his feet, holding his weight against her side. "Sorry, i-it was just too funny," she managed to say, gulping down her laughter. "Are you all right?"

Chris nodded, wincing at the bolt of pain the action caused him, then cleared his throat. "I'm fine. Who's he?"

Daphne turned to look at her father and the smile fell away from her face. "H-he is…"

"No one of consequence," he finished for her with a soft smile. "I'm just an old friend she asked for help when you disappeared."

Chris scowled, a sudden flash of memory passing through his brain. "Cathryn was down here."

"What?"

"Cath—" he cleared his throat and said in a louder and clearer voice, "Cathryn was down here."

"How is that possible?" Daphne replied. "Phoebe said she had been home since last night."

"What?" Chris frowned, turning to look at her. "But I saw her down here before I was attacked."

"It could've been a trap," her father suggested.

Daphne looked at him, her throat constricting. Oh, God, what all had she done without even realizing it? "Chris, we need to get you out of here," she said turning back to him. She reached up to gently wipe away some blood from the corner of his eye and said, "I'm so sorry I didn't come back soon enough."

"It's not your fault," Chris replied roughly, trying to focus his thoughts. The pain was receding slowly, but there was still a dull hammering against his right temple. He didn't notice Daphne's pregnant silence.

"Okay, we're going to take you home, and find someone to heal you. I'll have to come back down to talk with…" she looked towards her father and quickly said, "my _friend_ about something, but I promise we're going to get you feeling better, okay?"

She looked towards her father knowing there were about a billion more questions she had to ask him, and said, "Wait for me here," then shimmered out of the Underworld.

The Nemritzar Demon watched them disappear and remained motionless for several seconds. Then, slowly, a smile appeared on his face.

"Sir?"

He turned slightly towards the voice. "Come out. I need to speak with you," he called out as a tall, female demon with gray dreadlocks and nails like a bird's claws came walking towards him from the bend around the entrance of the cave. She walked directly in front of him and he looked at her ugly face.

"Sir, I—"

"Do you realize that he saw you down here?"

"I—"

"Oh, correction," he stopped her. "He saw _Cathryn_ down here."

"I know, and I am terribly sorry about that—"

"Your foolishness could've cost us _everything_! But I do not have time to deal with it right now. My daughter should be returning any moment, so I want you to go to my lair and wait for me there," he snarled.

She nodded quickly and with a, "yes, sir", disappeared.

The Nemritzar Demon stared into the space where she had been seconds ago, a scowl on his face. Seconds later, when he began to sense Daphne's shimmer, he immediately replaced the scowl with a smile and waited.

Wait… that was all he had been doing and that was all he had to do. Daphne could do the rest for him.

(0)

She reappeared in the Halliwell living room, now filled with sunlight from the windows in the sun-room. She looked around herself, checking to make sure none of them were around, and gently helped Chris into a chair.

"Where is everybody?" He asked her.

"Probably in the attic," she replied, fingering the wound above his ear slightly. An enormous feeling of guilt and pain overtook her. "I'm so sorry about all of this," she told him.

"It's not your fault," he repeated again, truly looking at her for the first time. He frowned. "Are you all right?"

She cleared her throat and nodded. "Yeah, of course. U-um, I have to get back to the Underworld, now, but…"

"Daphne, what's wrong?" He asked her, straightening himself in the chair. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine, Chris," she replied more firmly. "It's you who needs help." She drew a breath, preparing herself to call out Wyatt's name and then shimmer out immediately, but stopped.

"Um…" She hesitated, then leaned forward and kissed him quickly. "Okay, bye."

She straightened, took a step back and shouted, "Wyatt!"

"Daph—"

A second later, she was gone.

"She what?!"

"She called from down here," Chris heard Wyatt shout from the stairs. "I'm dead serious, she's here!"

Moments later, he burst into the room, looking around himself wildly. Chris opened his mouth to call to him, but before he could, Phoebe and Paige both came busting into the room behind him holding two vials of deep red potions. "Where is she?" Phoebe asked, looking around the room, ready to throw the potion.

"She's not here," Wyatt replied.

"See, I told you she wouldn't call us voluntarily!" Paige scoffed. "She's a demon, not stupid!"

"Well, excuse me for assuming the two of them meant the same thing after all these years of encountering stupid demons!" Phoebe scoffed back, turning to her. Suddenly, her head snapped towards Chris. "Oh, my God, Chris!"

A sudden commotion burst out in the room as they all rushed towards him.

"What the hell happened to you--?"

"Did she do this to you? I swear, I'm gonna rip her throat apart—"

"Oh, you poor baby—"

Chris winced as he felt Phoebe poke at the wound above his ear. "Ow!" He gasped.

"Guys, guys," Wyatt called out. "Let me heal him first!"

Paige and Phoebe looked at him, then took a step away from Chris on either side of him. Wyatt leaned forward, let his hands linger above his head and healed the wounds carefully. Chris immediately felt the pain evaporate blessedly and sighed with relief a second too early—

"Now, where is she--?"

"What did she do to you--?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Chris asked them all, perplexed. "_Who_ are you talking about?"

"Daphne, of course," Paige replied. "That little bi—"

"Where did she go, Chris?" Wyatt asked him.

Chris ignored him. "What do you mean? W-What's going on here?!"

"Daphne, your 'innocent'-Daphne," Phoebe replied, putting air-quotes on the word 'innocent'. "The little demon who beat you up."

"Daphne didn't beat me up!" Chris scoffed. "She got me here—"

"Who beat you up then?"

"I don't know," Chris scoffed. "Some other crazy demon that the Nemritzar Demon sent after me, I guess."

"You mean her father?"

Chris turned to Wyatt with a quirked eyebrow. "Yes, I mean her father. Do you know of any _other_ Nemritzar Demon?"

"Her father who was probably working for _her_?"

"Wyatt, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Chris, her demon powers are to control other people's emotions and thoughts," Phoebe told him. "She had been controlling our thoughts and emotions and slowly trapping us one by one in the Underworld, then making sure none of us went down there."

"No," Chris replied shaking his head. "That's her _father's_ power. _He_ was the one keeping us from going after Aunt Paige."

"The Seer herself told us that those were her powers, Chris. Even the Elders admitted that she had been influencing their thoughts ever since she came to them. They have been doing things and making decisions that they would've never normally done. Her father might have the same powers as her, but he is nowhere _nearly_ as powerful as her."

"The best he could've done was convinced one of us to take an extra lump of sugar with our tea," Paige added, nodding her agreement.

Chris turned towards her, the words ringing in his ears. Daphne had said the exact same things the previous night. He shook his head. "Guys, you're wrong," he told them, rising to his feet and walking away from the group. "She doesn't even know what half her powers enable her to do; she could not have done all of the things you're saying she did."

"Do you have any other explanation?" Wyatt asked him.

"Yes, her father!" Chris replied stubbornly.

"Chris, haven't you been listening to us? Her father is not powerful enough for any of that!" Paige told him.

"How do you know that?"

"The Seer said—"

"So, you're going to believe everything the Seer says now?" Chris asked them.

"She is our only source of information about Daphne, we don't have a choice but to believe her!"

"Look, you're saying she didn't tell you or the Elders what Daphne's powers were before she sent her to us," Chris said, "What's the guarantee she isn't lying to you about other stuff too? That she isn't hiding things from you?"

"What's the guarantee that Daphne isn't doing the same thing?" Phoebe pointed out. "Why are you so willing to trust _her_?"

Chris looked from one face to the next, letting a heavy silence fall between them. He didn't have any real reason to believe Daphne, it was true. He knew there was no reason, but he also knew that there _was_ reason. He knew she couldn't have been the one behind all this, she was too… innocent for that.

He blinked suddenly. Good God, had _he_ just thought that?

"Chris, the Seer said that the reason she didn't tell us about Daphne's powers was because that would make us more easy to fool. _Knowing_ what Daphne can do makes our psyche even more accessible to her and she did not want to risk that," Paige told him, stepping forward.

"As would believing that she was good," Phoebe added. "If our mind isn't aware of the fact that she has demonic powers that could potentially harm us, it is more likely that it will be fooled by those demonic powers. That's why the Seer told us that she has demonic powers that she might grow into, but didn't tell us what those powers were."

"Guys," Chris stopped them, putting up his hands slightly. "I get what you're saying… but I still can't believe that Daphne could've done all this."

"Why not?"

"Because I saw her use her powers last night," he told them. "In the Underworld. She tried to listen in on her father's emotions or thoughts or something and it nearly put a hole through her brain!"

Phoebe and Paige turned to look at each other.

"She didn't even know how to use her powers, much less use them against others! Just trying to listen to someone else just about killed her on the spot!" Chris told them. "In fact, if I hadn't been there, she would've died for sure."

"It could've been a trick," Phoebe said to Paige who nodded back.

"This is _me_ you're talking about," Chris nearly shouted at them in frustration. "Chris, Chris Halliwell, he who hated her guts the first moment he laid eyes on her! He who is skeptical about everything and everybody and he who is extremely hard to 'trick' even if it's something as remotely simple as April's Fool!"

"But you're forgetting that she's a dark-lighter also," Paige pointed out turning back to him.

Chris scoffed. "_So_?!"

"She could've seduced you into believing she was innocent—"

"Not _literally_, of course," Phoebe interrupted quickly. Chris froze, turning towards her.

"Oh, of _course_ not literally," Paige quickly amended herself. "I just meant a little bit, barely at all—just enough to convince you that—you know—"

Chris looked from one aunt to the next as they stumbled around fearfully for the rest of the sentence. He remained alarmingly still otherwise, the blood draining from his face.

"That she was innocent?" Wyatt finished finally. "He's a grown man, he's not going to _kill_ you guys if you suggest the possibility that he could've been seduced by some chick."

He cleared his throat and turned away from the group, quickly leaving the room.

"Chris, where are you going?"

"To go find this Seer everyone's talking about. I need to have a chat with her."

"Chris—"

But he was gone before any of them could stop him.


End file.
